A Good Run For Your Money
by Acidgreenflames
Summary: *Sequel* While struggling with confusing and conflicting feelings, Starscream and his trine struggle to fit in amongst the Autobot crew; mean while Sunstreaker's hurtful words have chased his twin's new found friend away and he is sent to bring her home. What should be an easy mission will reveal a deadly threat to the Autobots and all their allies. *AU*
1. When Harsh Words lead to Dumb Ideas

**Important Information**

"Blah" Speaking

::Blah:: comm. link

**_'Blah'_**bonded speech

'_Blah_' thinking

**Astrosecond**- 2.5 earth Seconds

**Klik**- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

**Orn**- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

**Joor**- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

**Metacycle**- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

**Vorn**- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

**Stellercycle**-30 earth months/2.5 years

**Breem**-slang for a moment/minute.

**Night Cycle**: star down to star up

**Day Cycle**: Star up to star down

**Authors Note**: Alright, here it is guys, the **sequel **to Running Wild. For new readers, this story won't make a lick of sense unless you read that story first. For returning readers, thank you for reading this stroy as well, let's get this show on the road :D

The story's rating is as such for later chapters, and each chapter will have its own set of warnings. Please read these warnings and keep them in mind for each chapter.

And as always, thank you to my wonderful beta, DarkestHour10, who always manages to catch all the little mistakes J

**Disclaimer**: I own only my OC's, nothing else.

()()()

The V-twelve engine screamed as the red Lamborghini took the corner hard, dust kicking up from the back tyres as it drifted around the cone in the middle of the figure eight. The red headed girl that drove the Lambo laughed as she did her second figure of eight on the obstacle course, her brown eyes sparkling with delight, the base from the music pounding through her and the powerful metal frame.

Her male passenger laughed with her, relaxing easily in the passenger seat, at ease with her at the wheel; his black hair unaffected by the wind and his blue eyes wide with joy, almost glassy as though he was high, the drive his drug.

The high performance car suddenly straightened out as she took them out of the figure eight, pushing the engine harder, faster, barrelling towards the mud pit. Danny fully intended to drift through that too, intending to coat mud along the crimson fenders.

"They're not going to make it."

Callie glanced up from her stop watch to look at Thundercracker's bored faceplates, his red optics following the red sports car as they ran the obstacle course.

Settling a little more comfortably on the seeker's wide blue shoulder plate, the blonde grinned up at him. "I dunno TC. They're going pretty hard. I think they'll shave a few seconds off their time."

A hard snort from behind the blue seeker made Thundercracker glance over his shoulder to see Starscream slowly making his way to where the Decepticon and human stood, watching Danny and Sideswipe going through the obstacle course, trying to beat their best time.

A soft feeling rippled through the other seeker and to his trine mate, he was glad to see his trine leader had come out. After six weeks, Starscream was still having a hard time fitting in with their new allies; it didn't help that most of them seemed set against making it easy on him, not that Starscream made it easy on himself either.

There was still that deep seated hurt buried deep in the seekers spark; angry and raw and it led to more than one outburst of hurt feelings that needed to be soothed. They were doing better, to a degree, but it was still going to take time to rebuild the trine bonds to what they should be.

Thundercracker pushed amusement to his trine leader as Starscream came to stand next to the blue seeker, his frame tense as he watched Sideswipe and Danny race.

Crimson optics pinned on the frontliner and the human, Starscream suddenly sighed. "Cliffjumper has been at Skywarp again."

A dark feeling swept through Thundercracker and he could feel Callie tense on his shoulder, her narrowed blue eyes glanced up at her guardian's trine leader.

Forcing calm in to his tone, Thundercracker focused on Sideswipe's racing form. "I don't know what that littler fragger…"

"Fucker sounds better." Callie grumbled from his shoulder.

Thundercracker ignored his charge's hot, angry words. "Hates more. The fact he's Sideswipe's friend…" a miracle in of itself. "or the fact we still wear the Decepticon insignia."

Starscream snorted, awkwardly reaching out to Thundercracker through the trine bonds. The blue seeker responded in kind, trying to rebuild what they had lost.

This was at least something they _could_ work on since most of the inhabitants of the _Ark _seemed to be determined to make their integration into the Autobots forces as difficult as possible, giving them some time alone. _Most_ of the command staff, not all of course, but then Red Alert hardly trusted his own mechs, trusted the seekers. That was enough for Thundercracker for now.

Starscream shrugged, one shoulder coming up. "I hardly attempt to try to decipher what goes through Cliffjumper's processor on day to day events."

"Not a lot." Callie muttered darkly as she watched Sideswipe's speeding frame racing for the finish.

Starscream flashed a smirk at the human before it quickly dissolved back into a stoic stare. "Yes well, he can't be all that bright. He tends to pick on larger opponents like seekers or the twins." His dark helm dipped towards Sideswipe's speeding form, his crimson optics flickering to where a very annoyed Sunstreaker stood like a solid wall of ice, dark and angry.

Callie snorted, blue eyes glancing at the stop watch. "He has a habit of instigating fights with larger mechs and cries foul when they finally snap." Her eyes narrowed, darkened. "Boys like that back in the day used to get a beat down by their own crews."

Starscream's helm tipped to the side, optics glancing up as he thought. "We could arrange that."

A very un-lady like snort broke from Callie, accompanied by the nasty smirk that spread across her lips at the thought.

Crossing his arms over his cockpit, Starscream sighed, bored. "So, they're finally going to beat their record are they?"

Callie grinned up at Thundercracker triumphantly, the trine leader confused when he felt annoyance from his trine mate.

Changing the subject, Thundercracker glanced at Starscream. "Have the human's been making any more of a stink about relocating the girls?"

Starscream shrugged, watching Sideswipe making the final run. For the past three weeks, Mearing had been demanding that the girls be relocated. Not even to a base, just merely what the humans called a _safe house._

Safe house, Thundercracker's aft. It would put the girls out _there_, on their own, far from his protection.

The hell that would happen and so far, General Morshower had managed to find reasons as to why the girls were considered to not be a _waste of good resources_, but a more permanent solution needed to be found, and fast.

Starscream was Thundercracker's inside mech on the on goings of the command staff; although the seeker only had authority over his trine, Optimus had been true to his word and made Starscream a commander of sorts.

Although he had no other power, still had to listen to not only Optimus, but Prowl and Jazz as well, Starscream at least got to listen in on most of the commanders meetings. He still had to prove himself to the others, prove this wasn't some sick ruse to get inside the Autobot base and kill them all.

So far, for the most part, Starscream was actually behaving himself and thus far got along surprisingly well with the Prime. Thundercracker was sure a lot of it had to do with the fact that, unlike Megatron, Optimus listened to what Starscream was saying and not so much too _how_ he was saying it.

Starscream, naturally, was still an insufferable glitch, but he brought a certain perceptive that even the Autobots wouldn't be so foolish to pass up.

As though merely thinking his name could summoned the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime suddenly appeared at the finish line of the course, moving with easy grace to the small group as Sideswipe came screaming towards them; Danny pushing his engine, his alt form as hard as it could go.

Thundercracker nodded to his leader, not his master, his leader, while Callie grinned up at him. Happy that the Prime had kept his word.

"Prime." Starscream nodded, his tone almost mocking. "I didn't think you had the time to come watch your little frontliner race."

Thundercracker stiffened, as did Starscream; old habits die hard, and too often Starscream's sarcastic remarks got him beaten, hurt, when he went one step too far with Megatron.

Optimus Prime however, was not Megatron. The Prime was an endless pool of patience and calm serenity, his armor barley bristling at Starscream's ridicule. "Normally I do not Starscream. Sideswipe was supposed to be on duty ten minutes ago."

"How quaint, the mighty Prime has to retrieve his frontliner." Starscream could just not help it.

Thundercracker cringed, inwardly rolling his optics at Starscream's behaviour as he tormented Optimus. Trying to push him, to see if the was as noble, as calm as everyone said he was.

"Not normally, however Jazz is off on a mission at the moment and Prowl is dealing with Cliffjumper." Soft blue optics floated down to crimson. "I hope you will speak to Skywarp about not looking for retribution for Cliffjumper's actions."

Startled, Starscream glanced up at his Prime before looking away and Thundercracker could feel his trine leader's confusion.

::He respects you.:: Thundercracker supplied.

::But why?::

::Because he wants to trust you Starscream. He has faith that you will be the commander we all know you can be.::

An odd sort of embarrassment suddenly rushed through his commander's systems as Starscream did all he could from dropping his optics. It saddened Thundercracker to see how badly Megatron had beaten down his ego so much so, that a simple complement could produce that kind of reaction from the seeker.

Thundercracker knew that Prime was good for Starscream in that way; he was kind and fair and actually listened to his commanders. Prime kept him grounded, pushed the seeker when he needed it but backed off when the time was right.

Ignoring his trine mate, Starscream nodded to the Prime. "I will see to it."

Optimus nodded; glad to make it through a single conversation that didn't end with Starscream yelling at him. Although, and Optimus would never, ever admit this to anyone, he was amused by the seeker's reaction when Optimus himself didn't react at all to Starscream's outbursts.

Optimus nodded in return to the seeker. "Thank you Starscream."

Thundercracker felt another burst of pride at the Prime's thanks, again, something that Megatron never did.

Sideswipe finally came screaming up, his engine pulsing hard as Danny yanked on the E-brake, spinning the frontliner's alt form so that the driver door was facing the group. The human barely had time to leap from the crimson Lambo as her passenger dissolved from view as Sideswipe transformed smoothly, both yelling "Time!?"

Callie grinned as she hit the stop watch, and Optimus gave Sideswipe a moment to discover if they had actually broken their record. The blonde cleared her throat, grinning at the faces of suspended joy and excitement from her cousin and the Autobot.

"You shaved a whole two seconds from your time."

For a moment, the pair looked surprised at the blonde before they exploded in high laughter and cheering and Danny double high fived Sideswipe's servos in congratulations as the pair laughed again.

The seekers and the Prime watched the pair, amusement hidden by their different masks, before Optimus cleared his throat. "Sideswipe, are you not supposed to be on the communications deck?"

The dirty, grimy frontliner stopped, paused as he thought about that for a moment, considering what day it was before a strangled squeak broke from his chest. The joy drained from his face plates and without another word or noise, the crimson frontliner turned and ran for the base, heading for the communications deck. Blaster was no doubt waiting for him to start his shift.

Danny's amused laughter followed the frontliner's sudden departure as Optimus sighed and shook his helm, Starscream staring almost dumbfounded at the scene.

"You lead a lot of sparklings Prime." The tri-coloured seeker sighed, shaking his helm.

Optimus fought the snort that begged to be released, thankful that his grin was at least hidden by the battle mask he wore. "I am painfully aware of this Starscream but bear in mind that most of my mechs were civilians or younglings before the war. They don't have the training most of the Decepticon's have."

Crimson optics rolled. "Please Prime. I was a youngling at the beginning of the war. You lead a bunch of sparklings." His mocking tone turned to almost awe. "How have you managed to survive, keep your Autobot's alive _and_ keep Megatron at bay for so long?"

Amusement flickered through Optimus at the seeker's words. "Sometime's Starscream, I wonder myself."

Thundercracker managed to wrestle the smirk from his face, keeping it plainly neutral as he felt a shudder of surprise flicker through his trine leader at the Prime's almost teasing tone. Megatron would never had bantered with Starscream like this, never would have bothered to play with words; a battle field that Starscream always would rule.

With the seeker's momentary silence, Optimus used his opportunity to get a word in before something else happened, something actually related to their lives. Pulling his data pad from subspace, the Prime handed it to the seeker. "These are the plans that have been presented for the seeker's hanger, they'll be closer to the Arielbots than you had said you wanted to be, but we have little choice at the moment."

Plucking the data pad from the outstretched servo, Starscream turned the screen on, crimson optics studying on the designs. Thundercracker couldn't stop the new grin that built on his face from the warm feeling that mixed with confusion from his trine leader.

Although he had never said it, Starscream thrived on appreciation and acknowledgement and whether or not the Prime knew it, these little moments were winning Starscream over.

Voice even, as though nothing was amiss, Starscream commented. "There's enough room for more seekers?"

Optimus nodded, "As you asked. I'm just not sure if it's enough, you seemed confident that if we can get word to Cyberton other seekers may be willing to join."

A moment of dismay flicked across the seeker's face before it returned to its normal grimace. "It's hard to say. Just because we were dumb enough to leave Megatron's fold doesn't mean that others will be. Possible, yes, but it's difficult to judge who would follow us here."

Optimus nodded, hoping against all odds that Starscream could bring more seekers to their side, turn the tide of war and end it once and for all. The Decepticons had always ruled the air, but now with the Decepticon air commander standing with the Prime, maybe, just maybe, others would be willing to follow.

The Prime's blue optics studied the Decepticon seeker as he continued to study the data pad; another reason for having the seekers join them, was simply to get Starscream away from Megatron.

The seeker, although still angry and glitched, had calmed in the few weeks he had been there. Starscream was intelligent, cunning in ways that Optimus never could be, had an honest want to be useful and just wanted to go home and do right by Cyberton. With the right guidance and encouragement, Starscream really could be the terror of the skies, a brutal air commander that could not be beaten.

That, Optimus was sure, was what Megaton feared. He wanted, liked, the seeker beaten down, weak and his alone. Starscream had been staggered by his own hatred for his previous master, and Megatron had played on the seeker's emotion.

The Matrix called to the Prime to protect the seeker, keep him away from the crazed titan and allow him to heal and Optimus was more than happy to comply with that; the trine leader and his trine had been so wrecked when they came to the _Ark_, both emotionally and physically, that Optimus couldn't help but want to help.

And he did the best he could with what he had.

Starscream glanced up again, crimson optics bright and healthy. "We need to discuss this further."

Optimus nearly grinned, there was no question in his tone, and the Prime nodded. "I figured you'd like to. We can go to my office to discuss it."

Fear suddenly shot through Starscream and his wings shot high as an old fear ripped through him, strong enough that even Thundercracker could feel it. The blue seeker instantly shot comfort back to this leader, letting him know he was there too, he wasn't going anywhere.

Gratitude shot back from Starscream and once again, Optimus proved himself to be a more capable leader than Megatron for recognising the signs of the seeker's discomfort. The tight plating, the too high wings that splayed wide; the fear of being trapped in a small room with no wind or room to move and fly unnerving him. Megatron likely knew these signs too, playing on them cruelly.

Optimus used these signs to put Starscream at ease. "If you are comfortable with this, of course."

Plating and wings instantly relaxed, and Starscream seemed to deflate to his normal state of annoyance. A choice, a way out is what Optimus was giving him. He didn't _have_ to go with the Prime, if he didn't want to.

Taking on his usual air of sarcasm and annoyance, Starscream snorted. "Of course I am comfortable with this Prime! I am not a sparkling that needs to be coddled." He sneered, his bravado a front for the fear that had just plagued him.

Without another word, the Prime nodded for Starscream to go in first, the trine leader snarling and stomping past him. With an amused shake of his helm, Optimus followed the seeker, praying to Primus that Starscream would behave and they could get through this little chat without the seeker yelling at him, again.

As the pair entered the _Ark_, Danny laughed, still by Thundercracker's pede. "How long do you think before Starscream jumps OP?"

Defensiveness shot through Thundercracker. The idea of Starscream and the Prime set the blue seeker's denta grinding. Starscream wasn't ready for that kind of relationship; he was barely moving on from what Megatron did to him.

The distinct growl from the blue seeker dragged another laugh from Danny. "Believe it or not TC, but I'm calling it now."

The growling reduced to the grumbling sound of an unhappy engine and Callie's blue optics rolled. "Danny, really?"

The car thief shrugged. "I am just saying."

Callie's eyes bore down at her cousin's grinning face. "Shouldn't you be harassing someone else?"

"Optimus took my playmate. What I am supposed to do now?" She asked in mock sadness.

Callie sighed, "I dunno. And before you ask, no, I will not be your playmate, I have plans with TC to go flying."

Danny tutted at her cousin. "How easily you've replaced me."

"Yes well, I barely tolerate you, and love TC. It wasn't really that hard to replace you." Callie playfully mocked without missing a beat, grinning down at her cousin from Thundercracker's shoulder.

Warmth spread from Thundercracker's chest; glad he still held the human's favour, even after all that had happened.

Danny laughed, shooting her cousin a rude hand gesture, one of her favourites if Thundercracker guessed right. "Whatever Cal. Have a good flight or whatever nonsense you're doing. I think I'm going to go work on the Shelby."

Red optics and blue eyes rolled. It had taken a lot of begging, pleading and a throwing of a tantrum to get the Shelby to the base. Ultimately, it had been decided that the broken down car would keep Danny busy and out of everyone's hair. Idle hands are the devils plaything, or some such nonsense, had convince Mearing to allow Danny space in one of the Nest issued garage bays.

Callie laughed; a high and happy sound that Thundercracker was glad to hear. "Good luck with that."

Danny turned, heading to the NEST garage, waving over her shoulder as she walked away from the seeker and his charge.

Thundercracker tipped his helm a little closer to his human with a sigh. "I heard she was fixing the car to buy back the horses."

Callie sighed, leaning a little into his helm, her body relaxed on his shoulder. "Yeah I know. I don't think she'll get enough to get both back and find a place to board them, but it's keeping her busy. So who am I to tell her not to?"

There was a distinct sadness in the girl's voice, and it made the seeker frown. He knew that Callie wanted her horse back, missed Patches as much as Lucy missed Cinderella and it made Thundercracker's spark ache that he couldn't help her with this. "A pity Swindle isn't here. He could have gotten the horses _and_ kept the Shelby whilst likely making a profit at the same time."

Confusion drawing her away from her sadness, Callie frowned at her blue guardian. "Who's Swindle?"

A smile flickered across the seeker's pale face. "He's ah...a con-mech. A slagger if I ever met one, but if you ever need to move product, Swindle can do it for you."

Callie giggled. "And this was an old team mate?"

"Team mate is a loose term." This time Thundercracker couldn't fight the smirk that spread across his face.

Smiling seemed to be contagious as Callie mirrored his grin. "Was there anyone you got along with?"

The seeker snorted. "Let's get into the sky and I'll tell you some _Nemesis _stories."

Callie laughed, her voice high and happy as the blue seeker transformed, encasing Callie safely in his cockpit as he rocketed into the sky; her small body pressing into the seat of his alt mode as he took off.

This was one of his favourite parts of the day, flying with Callie and telling her stories from his time with the Decepticons. He could tell her the good and the bad, knowing he was safe from judgment. Callie was his friend and she loved him like the brother she never had.

"This one time, just after the Combaticons woke up here on Earth," his easy voice rumbled over the small speakers inside his alt mode, amusement colouring his tone. "Swindle tried to sell Skywarp a fake gaming consol, he called the Play-X four..."

()()()

Sunstreaker watched his twin run to his shift, ten minutes late, again.

The gold twin then watched his Prime talk with the bloody seekers that had followed the stupid humans back to the _Ark_ and an unsettled rage grew from the frontliner's chest, spreading out from his spark. So much had changed in the last six weeks and things had changed for the worse, in his opinion.

Seekers were living at the _Ark_ along with a handful of humans that they didn't know. Humans that were friends with the slagging seekers! Humans who were nothing more than glorified pets, _civilians_!

Sunstreaker did not like it, not one damned bit. He didn't trust the flying slaggers as far as he could throw them, didn't like them on his base. The Autobot wasn't comfortable with having them so close and he despised that his brother seemed to make friends so easily with the fraggers, who just weeks before, they had been hunting for and fighting with.

Hatred swelled within the gold mech as he watched from a distance with anger in his spark, as Prime followed Starscream into the _Ark_. Watched the blue fragger joke and tease the human femmes that were suddenly living there, when they really should have been shipped out weeks ago.

Most of all he _hated_, loathed, the human called Danny who had not only stolen his brother when she thought he was nothing but a car, but had stolen his damned processor, Sunstreaker was sure. He had no clue to why his twin liked to play with the human; Skywarp at least he could almost understand, but the human?

It was a fragging joke. A sick fragging joke that desperately needed to end, would end if Sunstreaker had anything to do with it.

With a snarl, the golden mech peeled himself off the _Ark`s _wall and stormed after the human femme as she seemed to almost skip to the humans garage. Her happiness, her joy, the fact she was happy to be there, just angered Sunstreaker all the more.

He ground his denta until he could taste metal shavings and cursing, the front liner snarled at the human. "Flesh bag!"

Danny ignored him as she started humming some off tune song. Whether she was ignoring him or just didn't hear him, it was hard to say, but either way he hated her all the more. If she ignored him, then she was an insolent little glitch that needed to be taught her place and if she just didn't hear him, it was because she was a squashy flash bag, created with inferior parts. While he could hear for miles, if he tuned his audio sensitivity up as high as he could, she likely could only hear a few meters around her.

Primus he hated humans.

Snarling again, not bothering to keep his rage in check, Sunstreaker yelled louder at her. "_Flesh bag_!"

The girl didn't slow her pace, her small feet kicking up dust as she continued her walk to the garage but she did glance over her shoulder, brown eyes hardening when she saw his large gold frame marching stiffly towards her.

Her smile hardened, turned sharp and nasty. She disliked him as much as he disliked her; the fact he went out of his way to make her suffer, to upset her more likely the reason for this. The girl however, needed to realize that Sideswipe was his twin, and he did not like to share.

"What do you want Sunstreaker?" Danny barked at him, turning her attention back ahead of her.

He didn't bother to hide the snarl that bubbled from his chest. "Why bother!?" He snapped angry and hot at her. "Why bother to fix that scrap car of yours when it's worth nothing."

Her brown eyes narrowed up at him as he fell in line next to her, his hard words cutting at her more than she was willing to admit. "What…" she snapped back, unafraid, "would you know about it?"

"Apparently, more than you." His icy optics narrowed on her, cold and cruel. "Since I know that you'll never be able to buy the flea bags back for your dumb cousin."

Danny hid the flash of hurt that bolted through her small body while her hands balled into tight fists. "I'm surprised that you even know a word as big as _apparently_ Sunstreaker." She forced her tone to turn mocking through sheer force of will. "According to most of the _Ark_, you're too dumb to string more than a few words together."

The large Autobot snarled at her, his optics flashing red in his anger before chilling back to blue. "Watch your tone flesh bag. It'd be a shame to step on you."

Perhaps not a shame, but it would upset his twin if he killed the girl; all he wanted was to see her cry. To see the little glitch break down, it would give him a certain degree of satisfaction.

"Ohhh! I'm so fucking scared of you Sunstreaker!" she mocked him, wiggling her fingers up at him in her ridicule.

The thought and urge to step on her grew but the knowledge of how it would hurt Sideswipe kept him from doing it. Instead, he did the only thing he could do to hurt her, since he couldn't punch her without killing her. "What I would be concerned about is how you're going to deal with your cousins after you crush their little feelings when you're unable to get back the four legged flea bags."

The girl drew to a stop, tipping her head up to glare at him, her small fists tightening while her rage was naked on her small face.

A thrill shot through Sunstreaker; good, let the little glitch be angry at him.

"That's not true." She sneered.

"It is." He hissed back at her, his tone cold. "You'll never get the horses back, and it'll just be another failure to add to your ever growing list."

Danny snarled like an animal at him, wordlessly and angry, allowing him to continue.

"Nearly getting Mia killed, couldn't keep your garage from going up in flames and now you won't be able to get the flea bags back for your cousin." The front liner mocked the human as he reeled off the list.

"Blow it out your ass Sunstreaker." Danny hissed up at him, her brown eyes dark with her rage, helpless to do anything about it.

The golden Autobot grinned down at her, his smirk nasty and cold. "You're pathetic Danny. You couldn't even keep your own family safe. You had to rely on slagging Decepticon's to save your cousin and your sister."

Hurt and rage mingled in her eyes as Danny battled to keep the emotion from spilling out. Instead of breaking down, like Sunstreaker had hoped for, Danny internally gathered herself as she drew up a little taller, her eyes hardening. "And you're so pathetic, you're own twin abandoned you for a human."

Shock rippled through his frame at the human's cold words, his armor bristling and puffing out in his anger while he bared his denta at the girl. His silence allowed Danny to continue. "Why else would your own twin ditch you and hang out with me?"

Hurt ricocheted through the frontliner; the real source of the golden Autobot's anger, his sadness. His own twin, his other half, had indeed dropped him to hang out with the inferior human. A pathetic little femme who had no armor, could die far too easily, and hadn't been able to help save Sideswipe's life when he had needed her the most, during the battle of L.A.

Sideswipe had almost died protecting her and her family, and Danny couldn't do anything to save the crimson frontliner. She was small, squishy and pathetic. Yet, his twin chose to spend his down time with her and not him.

Smugness radiated off the human, she knew she had struck a chord with the frontliner, had hit something sensitive within him and had done if far quicker and with far more efficiency than he. If there was one thing Sunstreaker had learned about human femmes it was this, most of them spent their entire lives not on a physical battle field, but an emotional one and they were masters of their could crush her without thought and with ease, the golden mech knew that, but she could make him hurt just as badly. Danny knew his one weakness and was going to exploit it, even with Sideswipe as her friend, just to hurt him.

An animalist growl rumbled along with the revving of his engine, low and dangerous. "Listen you little glitch, stay away from Sideswipe.""Or what!?" Danny hissed back.

The golden frontliner glared down at her, getting a little closer to her small body, bearing down on her as he tried to intimidate her. The human tried to make herself look larger, taller than she was, stretching her spine as long as it would go, her fists still balled.

"Or I'm going to…"

"Danielle! Sunstreaker!" Jazz's angry voice suddenly shot out as he came down the walkway from the human's garage. The smaller 'bot was marching quickly to them, visor dark in anger. "Ah thought Ah told you two ta stop wit' the fighting!"

Both the human and the Cybertronian backed down. Sunstreaker's armor bristling, flattening, both of them their balled fists relaxing and the pair stepped away from each other, anger still clear in their eyes.

"Thought you were away on a mission Jazz." Sunstreaker snarled; a declaration rather than a question.

The dark blue visor narrowed on the frontliner, projecting as much cold hostility as Sunstreaker did broiling rage. "Just got back. Was intending ta give Prowl his report when Ah heard ya two bickering like sparklings."

The icy visor shifted to glare down at the human below him, her brown eyes still narrowed on golden armor. "And Ah've just about had it wit' all this fighting between the pair of ya. It ends t'day." The light behind the visor flashed, his gaze shifting to glare at Sunstreaker again. "Do Ah make mahself clear?"

Blue optics narrowed on the girl. "Yes sir."

Brown eyes never wavered. "Sure Jazz, whatever you say."

The sub commander let them glare at each other a beat longer, before he snapped. "Git going, the pair of ya. I don' wan'ta see either of ya wit'in a hundred yards o' each other fer the rest of the day. Do ya both understand me?"

There was another soft grumble of understanding from the pair of them, a snarl from Sunstreaker and a snort from Danny.

"Good." Jazz's tone was cold and angry, his engine rumbling in displeasure. "Now git!"

Sunstreaker snarled. "Failure."

Exasperated, Jazz snapped at the warrior. "Sunstreaker!"

Danny snorted back. "Pathetic."

"Danny!"

The pair glared at each other a beat longer, angry and hard before they turned and marched away from each other; Sunstreaker to the _Ark_ and Danny to the garage.

Shaking his helm, Jazz sighed. He was too tired for this nonsense. He had spent far too much time away on this mission, as far as Jazz was concerned, and what he found out was disheartening. He just wanted to find Prowl, deliver his report then crawl into a warm berth with his mate.

Jazz certainly didn't want to come home to Sunstreaker and Danny fighting with each other, again.

Sighing again, suddenly feeling the exhaustion of his mission, the weight of the information he carried, the terror he suspected, Jazz was done for the day. Straightening up, giving the look of a true commander, Jazz tried to not let his pedes drag as he headed to the _Ark,_ determined to make it to at least Prowl's office before he passed out.

()()()

Danny marched to the garage with more force than necessary. Unable to bottle her hurt and rage she quietly cursed, kicking up a dirt cloud in her annoyance. She wanted to scream, to rage, to punch Sunstreaker right in his pretty boy face; yet unlike every other asshole she had ever dealt with, he was not only much larger than she, but made of metal. Any damage she could inflict on him would have to be done with a blow torch or heavy gun fire.

Still, the thought of _someone_ slapping that smug look off his face brought a measure of pleasure to the human. There had to be someone she could convince to do it, she couldn't be the only one annoyed by him.

Prowl and Blaster were walking by, helms down, studying a data pad. The Autobot SIC was talking in a hushed voice to the communications specialist. "It was a drone Blaster, I'm sure that's what I saw."

The wide plated boom box sighed. "It can't be. That would mean..."

"I am aware of what that would mean Blaster. But I am sure this is what I saw." There was such certainty in Prowl's tone, no room for uncertainty in the Autobot's organized mind.

Blaster's blue optics glanced up from the pad and at his commander. "How do we stop them, if this is what we think it is?"

"Best way to stop drones is to take out their master, in any way possible. They will be linked to whoever controls them, and if they die, the drones go with them."

"What about confusion? If you were able to surprise or confuse the master, would the drone react in the same way?"

Prowl considered the thought for a moment, blue optics going hazy in thought as his battle processor analyzed the information, meanwhile Danny slowed her angry storming to hear the answer. "There is a ninety five percent chance that this is a correct theory Blaster. From the information I have, I would be comfortable to say it would be an effective way to battle drones if backed into a corner."

Blaster nodded, his helm dipping back down to study the data pad, allowing Prowl to continue. "We need to wait for Jazz and speak to him before we make too many assumptions. He has already arrived back on base and should be in my office."

Blaster nodded, his usually joyous face set into a grim frown. Heaving a sigh, Danny quickened her light steps, hurrying away from the commanders, nearly running to the garage that she often found her refuge.

Storming into the small building, Danny threw open the heavy metal door, using all her strength to shove it open, relieved that the garage was empty, that no one was around to witness her anger and break down. Tears suddenly welled at her brown eyes, tears she desperately tried to blink away.

Glancing at the broken down Shelby, still riddled with bullet holes and broken glass, her tears welled harder, fatter. She'd never fix it in the right amount of time to buy the horses back and the sad reality was that she'd never get enough money to get the horses back, not both of them, and certainly not with enough to rent a stable for them to live. She was a failure, just as Sunstreaker said she was.

Not only could Danny not get the horses back for her cousins, she couldn't protect her family in their much more frightening new world; they were forced to rely on the generosity of others and that never worked out well.

Danny's angry tears welled further, a single one sliding down her smooth cheek before she ruthlessly rubbed it away. Scrubbing at her face with the back of her hand, Danny took a deep, shaky breath, gathering her thoughts. Her hands curled into tight balls, her nails biting into the flesh of her palm as her regret, her hurt turned to anger and hate; and Primus, did she ever _hate_ Sunstreaker. The sob that could have broken from her chest in her sadness came out as a growl from her aggression.

How dare he! How dare that golden plated bastard talk to her like that! She could dismantle him if she had the chance, strip him of his armor and sell it on eBay. She had the skills and she had means; she had the will to do what needed to be done to get what she wanted.

A familiar calm slowly came over her, turning her rage inward, turning it cold. Huffing an angry sigh, Danny's brown eyes slid over the cars in the garage, over the red beaten form of the Shelby and the broken forms of the damaged military vehicles, before landing on Epps's navy blue and black Suzuki. The motorcycle had just had an oil change and was begging to be taken out.

Brown eyes blinked at the bike, the cogs in Danny's head turning over a plan, going over all the details. Knowing, with all she was, that Callie would have her head if she followed through with her crazy plan, but Sunstreaker's hurtful, emotionally charged words echoed back in her head, hardening her resolve, making her want to follow through on her crazy plan.

Callie would be furious with her, but she would prove to everyone that she wasn't a failure, that she wasn't pathetic. She had talents and she knew how to make fast money; she knew how to make a lot of fast, dirty, money.

Eyes narrowed on the crotch rocket before glancing at the large bay doors and back to the bike. She would be able to make the money to get the horses back, and then some. She still had friends who were always looking for another booster, and it wouldn't be permanent, she told herself. Just to make enough money to buy the horses back.

Her heart pounded in her chest at the thought while adrenalin flushed through her veins, making everything seem brighter than it was. This was a bad idea, a betrayal of trust to Callie, to whom she promised to not steal anymore, and to Epps, whose bike she was planning on stealing.

Yet, she argued with herself. Callie would forgive her if she came back with the money to get the horses back and Epps couldn't be angry forever, so long as she brought his bike back; it was borrowing it really, not stealing if she intended on returning it.

Danny glanced at the work bench closest to the bike, the black polished helmet sitting there. It would be too big but she would make do. Glancing back to the bike, the girl nodded to herself. This was a bad plan, she knew it, but she would rub this in Sunstreaker's face that, yes, she could in fact take care of her family.

Mind made up, and before she could talk herself out of her foolish idea, Danny made a beeline for the bike, snagging the helmet off the table. The Suzuki was too big for her, but again, she'd make do, and she slipped the helmet onto her small head.

Readjusting the brown leather jacket so that is sat right over her small body, Danny prised open the panel she was looking for and hotwired the bike, grinning when it started and purred like a cat; light and powerful, again, begging to be taken out.

A sudden bolt of old fear, of being caught, made her fast, light on her feet as she ran for the big bay door, hauling it open with the dangling chain. Rushing back to the bike, Danny threw one leg over the side and righting it, she kicked back the kick stand.

Easing the bike from the garage, not even bothering to close the door behind her, Danny slowly rolled to the gate. She wasn't a prisoner here, she was able to go when she choose to; granted she was suppose to have Lennox or Mearing's permission to do so, but the ranger guarding the gate didn't even blink at her when she flicked up the visor of the helmet and offered a smile.

The guard didn't bother to stop her when he saw it was Danny as she often went out for drives just to get away from base for a while, usually with Sideswipe. She never went far or went out for too long.

Snapping the visor down when the gate was opened, the red haired girl gunned the throttle, becoming a blur as she rocketed away and down the road, not once looking back at the shrinking base.

()()()

For seven days they worried about Danny and wondered on her whereabouts. She had left with only the clothes on her back and the money in her pocket. Her cell phone had been found in the NEST issued quarters so she was untraceable from both Liz, and the other NEST hackers.

Once she hit the high way, Danny was out of NESTs range and their cameras. They had managed to track Robert Epps's bike all the way to the major highway, but with the way the highways connected, the thief could have gone anywhere.

Callie, panic stricken and angry, suspected she would have gone back to their old hunting grounds in Las Vegas, but until they had some form of proof of that, it was speculation at best.

They had also reported the bike as stolen, hoping that maybe the police in whatever city she was in would pick her up. But as Callie explained, Danny was a professional car thief, she wouldn't be so stupid as to leave the original plates on a stolen bike, and had more than likely changed them by now.

Thus far, Callie seemed to be spot on in her assumption since they hadn't received any calls from police saying they had arrested the thief.

Tension in the _Ark_ grew, the happy feelings curdling. When the question why Danny had left was asked, it had been Jazz who had answered, telling them how she and Sunstreaker fought, the bitter words that passed between them.

Callie and her cousins blamed Sunstreaker for her leaving, fair or not, their anger was directed solely at the gold frontliner; it had been his nasty words that had caused the car thief to leave in a huff.

It seemed that whatever upset Callie's delicate senses would in turn upset her seeker guardian, which in turn would upset the trine. Sunstreaker however, would simply ignore the dirty looks the others shot him, wouldn't let it bother him. He had gotten rid of the little glitch and if she was too weak to put up with his comments, then she didn't deserve to be there.

This was a wonderful thing for Sunstreaker really, he got his twin back and life should have returned to normal. _Should have_ however, seemed to be the saying of the year. Sideswipe, upon hearing that it had been his twins' angry words, feeling his twins' deep seeded jealousy and insecurity that had chased his new friend away, had promptly snapped the bond shut in his anger and started recharging in his own berth, if he recharged in their room at all.

No amount of prodding, poking and near begging from Sunstreaker had gotten Sideswipe to soften or peel back the tight block on their bonds. So great was the crimson twin's anger that Sideswipe wouldn't even speak to Sunstreaker, firmly ignoring his twin on all levels.

Sideswipe's reaction made Sunstreaker all the more surly, angry, causing him to snap at anyone who dared get too close, taking it out on everyone around him. It hurt the golden warrior even more because his twin turned his back on him, again choosing the human over him.

The anger, the hurt, the unsettled emotions spread throughout the _Ark _like a virus, affecting one Autobot after another, as well as the humans one by one, until it all came to a head one morning during breakfast; the small period between the ending night shift and the starting day shift, where almost everyone was present save a few of the command staff and the skeleton crew monitoring for attack.

Callie stormed into the mess hall, a news paper clutched tightly in her hand, Mia and Aleyah nearly jogging to keep up with her quick pace. She marched past her alarmed looking seeker, past the suddenly interested Prime and well past Lennox who was waiting for her to have breakfast with him.

Instead Callie marched right to where Sunstreaker sat alone; his optics pinned on a data pad, ignoring the world around him as the blonde stormed up to him, the news paper crumpling in her small hand. Thundercracker shot to his pedes when he saw Callie, his little charge, marching up to the already unhinged twin, her dark blue eyes narrowed on the golden mech, angry and rage filled.

Hurling the news paper at the Autobot, it barley hit his knee, barley touched him. Yet the room stilled, becoming silent as some watched on in a state of awe and shock as Sunstreaker's icy blue optics slid from his data pad to glare at the foolish human who would dare attack him.

Before he could get a word in, the blonde snapped at him. "You big mouthed bastard!"

Blue optics narrowed, sharp and angry as a deep growl left the frontliner accompanied with the low, heavy rev of a powerful engine. "Watch your tone fleshling."

Thundercracker was suddenly at Callie's side, armor puffed out, weapons humming should the frontliner try anything stupid. Human blue eyes narrowed on the large frontliner, her younger cousins worried and frightened by her side. "You've no idea what you've done!" She hissed up at him.

A silent snarl cut across Sunstreaker's face, angry and hateful as the blonde glared back up at him, unwavering in her stance.

"What are you on about now?"

"Callie." Optimus's smooth voice, calm and patient, interrupted the brewing fight. "Has Danny turned up?"

Her darkened eyes sliding slowly away from the bristling frontliner, Callie turned to look at the Prime, her glance darting for a moment to Lennox before returning to the Optimus. "Sort of." She bent and picked up the scattered newspaper.

Her pretty, petit face formed an angry frown while the other Autobot's gathered around to see what she was holding up. Sunstreaker felt a pang of sadness as his crimson twin shouldered his way behind Skywarp, the bond still blocked, still ignoring his sullen twin.

Optimus sighed, and Lennox groaned at the headline that Callie presented them. "But I know that she is pissed."

The headline read '_Thieves targeting Yellow cars in the Las Vegas area_'.

"No doubt that whoever she's working with, or for, she's told them to go after yellow cars just so she can watch them be torn apart." Callie hissed; her voice angry and cold.

"Or to tear it apart herself." Mia added, her voice unusually small and hesitant, not wanting to upset her cousin any more, her own worry for her sister feeding into Callie's.

The blonde sighed, her eyes shooting to Thundercracker and he could see her worry, her fear and it renewed his anger towards not only Danny, but Sunstreaker as well.

Suddenly blue optics rolled, and Sunstreaker snorted, his massive arms crossing over his chest. "That's speculation that she's there. There's no proof she's even in Vegas."

Callie spun back around to face the golden mech, her face one again contorted into rage. "Are you kidding!? She's stealing yellow cars and pretending it's you! Don't be so damned delusional!"

Sunstreaker snarled down at the girl, causing Thundercracker's engine to rumble in anger, taking a step closer to his human charge, his calm face unable to hide his flaring EM field and anger.

"I'm not yellow." Sunstreaker hissed at the girl, knowing his argument was petty at best. "I'm gold."

Callie blinked up at him, her anger melting into stunned disbelief. "Really! Really Sunstreaker? You're fucking gold!" her head shook, blond hair pulled back into a short pony tail swinging back and forth, "Bloody moron."

Huffing, the blonde pushed past the tightly knitted group, marching back towards the exit of the mess hall with her cousins and Lennox hot on her heels. The seeker trine, Sideswipe, Optimus and surprisingly Smokescreen, hesitated for a moment, giving the humans a moment to get ahead so that the smaller beings wouldn't have to run to keep up them before following them. Meanwhile, Blaster ushered everyone else back to their meals.

Tossing another angry look over her shoulder, Callie pinned a glare at Sunstreaker. "I'm going to have to clean up your mess now. Thanks a lot _Sunstreaker_."

Bristling, Sunstreaker chased after her, his armor shifting in his anger. "Wait one second! What do you mean _my mess_?"

Not bothering to slow her pace, Callie snapped. "Well it's your fault that she left and we can't leave her out there. No doubt the little idiot will get herself killed! So I'm going to have to go find her now! So yeah, your fault and I'm fixing it."

Sunstreaker snarled, but Thundercracker cut in while he had the chance. "You're not going to Vegas alone." His tone was calm as they followed the girls march to the front of the _Ark_, the whole group stopping at the mouth of the ship.

Callie frowned up at her guardian and his flanking trine mates. "We can't leave her out there." Her worry now bled through her initial anger. "Vegas may be our city, but there are still a lot of people out there who would kill her because of the work she's done."

"Those same people," Starscream surprised everyone by adding. "Would aim to hurt you as well." Red optics flicked to his blue trine mate, worry seeping through the trine bonds.

Sideswipe, standing next to Skywarp piped up. "Then I'll go."

Everyone turned to look up at the crimson mech with surprise, the hurt in Sunstreaker echoed through the empty bond once again, disappointed that comfort didn't instantly echo back.

Confused, and not feeling his twins upset, Sideswipe blinked at the perplexed looks the others were giving him. "What? I like Danny and I've been worried too. So if Callie can't go find her, I will."

Optimus nodded, scratching at his face mask in thought. "It would be ideal to send Sideswipe. He would be able to calm her enough to escort her back."

Callie sighed again, her small shoulders drooping. "Thanks Sides, but I don't think you'd find her."

The crimson mech frowned, his metal brows pulling in his confusion and it increased Sunstreaker's annoyance. "She's just a human, I'm sure anyone of us could find her."

Callie's livid gaze landed on the frontliner. "Unless you know where to look, you'd never find her."

Sunstreaker's heavy engine rumbled, low and angry but he was ignored as Sideswipe questioned the human. "Then how would I look for her?"

Callie sighed, glancing down. "It would depend on who hired her. If she's working free lance for a chop shop, who knows where she is, she'd be all over the city. But if she's picked up a couple of contracts, she's likely to only be in one area of the city."

Mia huffed as well, her thin arms crossing under her bosom. "And if the newspaper was right, she'll be doing a mix of both, so she'll be all over the city."

Lennox frowned, brows furrowing. "What about a schedule? Will she have a routine?"

Callie and Mia shared a look while Aleyah shifted uncomfortably, it was Mia who answered. "No. We could never keep a regular schedule. If we had we would have been traceable to other gangs, crews, and the police. So she'll be working at all hours of the day and will work until she drops, then sleep."

"And she'll find the smallest, crappiest motel to crash in. One where she'll pay with cash and no one will ask questions." Callie added.

Starscream frowned, red optics focusing on Callie. "Where would she get the cash? She left with nothing."

Callie and Mia shared another glance before the blonde looked back up at the seeker leader, surprised that he had taken an interest, more than likely on behalf of his trine mate. "Probably from the first job she pulled. She would have done something quick that would get her enough money to pay for some kind of lodging, a bit of food and some throw away clothes that she could wear while she's working."

"So, what you're really saying is…" Skywarp suddenly added, his own little frown present on his face plates. "That we have no way to track her, since she'll be using cash and knows the city better than us. And being all over the place at all hours of the day, by the time we get wind of where she might be, she'll be long gone when we get there."

"Basically." Callie confirmed. "But I, at least, will know where she is likely going to be. I know which people she will go to for work. I am the most logical choice to go find Danny."

"No." Thundercracker said firmly, his helm shaking, "It's too dangerous." He nodded to the crimson frontliner. "Sideswipe can find her."

"Thundercracker." Callie sighed, her shoulders drooping low again. "I've managed to stay alive for this long without you constantly guarding me. I think I could survive a few days."

The blue seeker shifted uncomfortably, his helm shaking in the negative again. "No. It's still too dangerous." _And I'd spend the whole time worried sick about you._

One didn't have to be a mind reader, or a trine member to know that the lieutenant wouldn't let Callie go alone.

"You can't go with her." Starscream said firmly, regret filling the bond between them despite his hard words. "We are still not accepted among the Autobot ranks, it will only further push us out if you leave now. Besides, Lennox wants us to _keep a low profile_. A blue jet doing flybys over a major city is not what I would call low profile."

Thundercracker frowned at his trine leader, his upset clear along the trine and the spark bonds.

"Then _I'll_ go find her." Sideswipe emphasized, his servo spreading over his red chest plates. "Danny likes me. She won't bolt if it's just me."

Mia looked up at the crimson twin. "But I don't think you'll find her Side's. Vegas is just too big and busy and she's just one human among thousands." The green eyed girl shook her head, curls bouncing around her face. "It will be hard enough for us to find her, and we know how she works."

Sideswipe frowned, actually upset at the girl's words; words that made Sunstreaker snort and snarl.

"Please! She's just a human, I could slagging find her on my own."

Callie and even Mia glared up at the frontliner, the blonde of the pair snapping, "Please! You wouldn't get within a hundred meters of her!"

The golden maniac snarled back. "She's just a human, it won't be that hard."

"Her being _human_ won't make the task any easier!" Callie snapped.

Optimus watched the human and Sunstreaker bicker; it seemed that the golden mech was squabbling with everyone as of late, including his twin. He didn't respect humans, didn't see their capabilities, he only saw them as a hindrance, a liability.

Perhaps, just perhaps, if Sunstreaker could see that humans could be just as tough as any Autobot, in their own ways, maybe it would sooth the feelings of the last few days. It would give the golden mech sometime away from his twin and would serve to tracking down Danny.

"Then you will go look for her Sunstreaker." Optimus said simply, stopping all arguments.

The golden frontliner stalled, freezing at his Prime's words. "W…what?"

Optimus grinned behind his mask as his words seemed to stall even Starscream. "If you believe that tracking down a human will be such an easy task, then you will find her and bring her home, alive and unharmed."

Everyone blinked before they all started trying to yell over one another in order to protest the Prime's orders. All except Starscream, who had burst into fits of laughter, unable to stop at the ridiculousness of it all.

But, Optimus saw something in Sunsreaker, knew there was a part of him that yearned for a friend of his own. The front liner was softer than the outer armor he let everyone else see, more sensitive if his fight with his twin was any anything to go by. Optimus believed that if they would just both calm down, they had the ability to get along and he hoped this would help achieve that.

Either that or it would all blow up in his face, but it was the risk he was taking.

The Prime held up his servos, silencing all except Starscream who was almost bent double as he gasped and wheezed for air while he laughed. As everyone else stopped arguing, Optimus glanced at the tri-colored seeker and cleared his throat, pulling his attention.

"Sorry! Sorry Prime. Just, I thought you had actually suggested that you send Sunstreaker to fetch Danny." The seeker smirked at the Prime, daring him to say it again.

"I did Starscream." Optimus glanced down at Callie before pinning the gold mech with a hard look, "And Sunstreaker will fulfill his duty to the best of his ability. He will bring Danny back to the _Ark_ unharmed, understand?" The question aimed at the frontliner.

An unhappy sound that could have been a snarl rumbled from the frontliner, but Sunstreaker jerked his chin to the Prime in an almost nod, firmly ignoring how his twin gaped at him.

"And when he fails?" Callie snapped, sounding angry.

"_If_ he fails Callie, I will accompany you to look for her." Optimus said firmly, putting an end to all arguments.

Sideswipe stared at his twin in bewilderment as Sunstreaker snapped at Callie. "She's human! How hard is it really going to be?"

Callie grinned up at him, cold and cruel. "Vegas is Danny's city Sunstreaker. She's going to chew you up and spit you out."

"And stomp on you just for good measure." Aleyah snapped suddenly, hostile and angry.

"And scrape you off the bottom of her shoe like the piece of shit you are." Mia added, her voice light and airy, even cheerful.

Starscream's mouth actually dropped open at the girl's words as Sunstreaker growled down at her, his servos balling into tight fists of rage.

"_Enough!_" Optimus suddenly snapped, ending all the smirks, all the arguments. "Sunstreaker, will you be able to handle this?"

Sunstreaker snorted; his blue optics cold and icy on Callie, Mia and Aleyah. "It'll be no problem Prime. I'll have the little glitch back in a few days."

With one last glare, this time directed at his twin, Sunstreaker nodded to the Prime and dropped into his alt mode, speeding off for the gate. The small group watched on as the frontliner rocketed out of the NEST compound and down the same road Danny had used to get to the highway.

Smokescreen reminded everyone he was there as he laughed suddenly. "I bet you one hundred US dollars that he doesn't get Danny back without damage."

Callie snorted. "I'll put two hundred down that says Danny kicks Sunstreaker's ass."

Mia laughed, watching the retreating gold form. "Add another hundred into that!"

Sideswipe frowned, watching his twins' form became a spec before disappearing from sight. Guilt at being so angry with Sunstreaker for so long consumed his spark. "Perhaps I should go with him Optimus?"

"No Sideswipe, this will be good for Sunstreaker. He needs to be able to do these things on his own." Optimus said gently. Sideswipe glanced back at the empty desert sadly before retreating back inside of the _Ark_.

Optimus sighed as he watched the crimson twin slink back into the ship, sad and hurting. It tore at Optimus a little, but this was for the best, that much the Autobot leader was sure.

Smokescreen laughed again, drawing the Prime's attention to the others in the group. "So, two hundred from Callie, one hundred from Mia, one fifty from Aleyah and one fifty from Lennox, all on Danny?"

The humans all grinned up at Smokescreen while Thundercracker glared; bright crimson optics pinned on the Praxian. Giving another sigh, Optimus shook his helm at them while Starscream slid next to the Prime.

"Younglings, Prime. Younglings."

Keeping his optics on the group, Optimus calmly replied. "I am more aware of that fact than you realise Starscream."

The seeker laughed again, causing the Prime to shake his helm as the humans and Smokescreen worked out the betting pools on the Danny vs. Sunstreaker drama that had suddenly unfolded.

()()()

**To Be Continued**


	2. Let the Games Begin

**Important Information**

"Blah" Speaking

::Blah:: comm. link

'_**Blah'**_bonded speech

'_Blah_' thinking

**Astrosecond**- 2.5 earth Seconds

**Klik**- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

**Orn**- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

**Joor**- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

**Metacycle**- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

**Vorn**- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

**Stellercycle**-30 earth months/2.5 years

**Breem**-slang for a moment/minute.

**Night Cycle**: star down to star up

**Day Cycle**: Star up to star down

**Authors Note**: Phew finally done! I'm going to apologise in advance for the late posting and the future late postings. I am always working on this story, but seeing as convention season is starting my time is divided between work, writing, and getting my cosplay put together. And seeing as I've only a few months to finish my costume and all the time in the world to work on this story, most of my time is being eaten up by my costume. So please be patient with the updates, I promise they will be coming.

As always, thank you to everyone who followed the story, and thank you to all who reviewed. So thank you to Autobot Firekat, Soccus, SunnySideofBlue, Wanderling, Daenerys Starcatcher, Starcee138, DarknessRising10, and Crimson Hope.

As always, a massive thank you to DarknessRising10, who beta'd this chapter! You did such a wonderful job with everything we had discussed and I love how you caught all my loose stings and nonsensical writings. And that little bit of science-ie stuff. Without you, this chapter would not have come out nearly as well.

**Disclaimer**: I own only my OC's, nothing else.

()()()

Sunstreaker rolled along the Las Vegas strip, angry and annoyed. He decided, upon entering the city, that he hated it. There were too many people in such a small amount of space, all shoving and pushing against each other, drunk out of their minds and walking with alcohol down the street, dropping it and splashing it all over the place.

It made Sunstreaker's plating crawl with disgust. The humans here reminded him of the videos of ants that Hound liked to show, the ones where a swarm of them would come from one of their dirt hills and horde on their catch as they ripped apart what they were eating; these humans would flock from their hotels to the streets and drink their faces off to the point of falling down.

Disgusted, Sunstreaker pulled his plating as close to his protoform as he physically could in his alt form while he rolled into a parking spot, killing his engine with a disgruntled sigh, cringing as several humans brushed past him. Primus, he hated humans. They were no better than bugs that were slowly killing their own planet.

A snarl rumbled from Sunstreaker, drawing the attention of several passers-by. Here he was, fighting to get his planet back, fighting to revive it, and here they were destroying their own. Their planet meant nothing to them; they didn't appreciate it as they should. They had no concept of what would happen should their pretty blue and green ball ever did die, like Cybertron had.

Taking a deep vent, Sunstreaker forced himself to relax, pushing his dark thoughts from his processor in order to concentrate on his mission, finding Danny. Knowing the little glitch was stealing gold and yellow cars, he would lure her to him with his own beautiful frame.

She would come to him, would try to steal him and he would drag her kicking and screaming back to the _Ark_ if he had to, then Optimus could deal with her. Then he could make things up with his twin, get back to normal; his hurt that his twin had turned his back on him still stinging at his spark. He would prove to Sideswipe as well, that he was not as useless as everyone believed him to be. Settling down, his plating stopping its mad twitching, and Sunstreaker lay in wait.

The little thief would come to him, and all his problems would end at last.

()()()

Leaning against the orange wall of the _Ark,_ the desert sun beating down on his spread wings, Starscream vented a sigh as he watched Skywarp and Sideswipe, listening to their strained laughter as they tried to entertain Lucy and Annabelle.

Danny's leaving had not only unsettled her family, but Sideswipe as well, and Skywarp was trying to cheer his new play mate up by distracting him with the little girls. They, at least, could provide some form of entertainment to the two mechs as they all worried.

Venting another sigh, Starscream glanced to where Thundercracker sat _in the dirt _like some ground pounder with Callie. His trine mate was trying with everything in him to cheer his little charge up as the blonde fretted over her foolish cousin. Thus far, not even the calm demeanour of the blue seeker had managed to crack past Callie's never ending worry.

Plating shifting on his frame, opening wider to the hot sun, his EM field reached out, but he was nowhere near close enough to his trine mates and once again, Starscream forced his jealousy and insecurity down. He had no reason to be jealous of Sideswipe, or Callie and Lucy, they had nothing on him; he was part of their trine, far more important than just some friend or charge.

They were trying too, Thundercracker and Skywarp, trying so hard to prove to him that they wanted to be a part of his trine still, and that they still respected him as a trine leader. Loved him as a brother. They spent more time with him, not just running off to their shared quarters for their alone time, and they made sure they flew together once a day as well as taking at least one meal all together.

Yet Thundercracker still had Callie as his friend and Skywarp had Sideswipe; they had both, once again, managed to achieve something he could not. To put it simply, they had managed to make a friend outside of the trine, outside of their own caste and even outside of their own species. Once again, Starscream was left floundering on his own as he tried to fit in with their new allies.

Some friendships amongst the Autobots had been alive for eons and some cliques had lost too many of their numbers to easily add another to their midst; even more had lost their own at seeker servos. Flicking a wing, Starscream tried not to think of how many seekers had died at Autobot servos; they were trying to do better here. Get along. Be _Prime's Decepticons._

It was a load of scrap as far as Starscream was concerned, he doubted that the peace would last forever, but with burning the bridge back to the _Nemesis,_ they couldn't go back there. Besides, Starscream wouldn't take his trine back to Megatron, not after all that had happened.

Worry and even fear rolled in Starscream's tanks as he watched Thundercracker and Skywarp, so at ease amongst the Autobots and humans. The trine leader didn't know what he would do if things fell apart with the Autobots, he had no place to take his trine, no place to keep them safe.

Heaving a sigh, Starscream tried not to ponder that line of thought too much. Things were going well for them for once and he certainly didn't want to jinx it when their tanks were full for the first time in vorns, and their frames in top working order. The Autobots simply had one thing that Megatron did not, human aid. In exchange for protection, the humans would _give_ the Autobots what they needed to distil energon, as well as the necessary metals to create proper armor and weapons that the Decepticons simply couldn't fabricate.

Shuddering, Starscream wondered what would happen if Megatron ever got his helm out of his aft and found humans to help him. Humans like him, humans that could be bought. Shaking that thought from his processor, Starscream brushed it off. It was an insane thought. Megatron would never contact humans in order to set up a business deal. Even if he would double cross the humans in the end, the Decepticon leader thought the species too far below him to use that way.

A small, soft voice drew Starscream from his dark musings. "Hello Starscream."

Venting yet another sigh, annoyed and exasperated more than anything else, Starscream's crimson optics drew down to the small green eyed girl by his pede. "Mia." He nodded with forced politeness.

The human smiled up at him, not quite hiding her surprise over the fact that he had actually greeted her as often he didn't bother. Since saving her life, she seemed to be under the impression that they would be _friends_ now, not unlike Callie and Thundercracker. Yet, unlike his trine mate, he had no interest in being friends with a human, even if he had saved her life.

A fairly ironic contradiction, feeling left out by his trine when they made their own little friends, and the single being who actually _wanted _to try to be his friend, he wanted nothing to do with. It wasn't that he disliked Mia, per say, but the girl carried bad memories for him just by sight of her alone.

Old memory echoes of pain and agony, of Megatron tearing his wings from his back, leaving him helpless and grounded because he had saved her, always surfaced in his processor whenever she was near. The human femme however, didn't seem to get the hint and leave him be.

No matter how cruel and nasty his remarks to her where, everything from her hair colour, to her weight, to the weakness of her species, seemed to phase her perpetual state of happiness. When he brought the issue up with Thundercracker, hoping that he could talk to Callie who in turn, would talk Mia into leaving him alone, his blue trine mate simply grinned at him, saying that the green eyed one only wanted to thank him.

Besides, Thundercracker had said, much like Callie, Mia had the ability to see past his scrap and wasn't going to quit. The blue seeker further smirked, telling Starscream that it was high time he made a new friend.

The conversation left Starscream wondering what _scrap_ Thundercracker was talking about.

Grumbling about dumb trine mates and dumb humans, Starscream managed to dredge up enough civility to address the human as politely as he could. "What do you want Mia?"

Bright green eyes blinked up at the tri coloured seeker, a small smile quirking at her lips. "Nothing Starscream. Just enjoying sitting outside with you."

A little stunned by her explanation, his dark helm canting to the side, the seeker glowered down at the girl. "We are not sitting outside together."

Grinning back up at him, as though she knew an ongoing joke he did not, Mia easily said. "Yes we are. You're here sitting outside. I'm here outside. We're outside, together."

"Yes, but we are not doing so _together_." He emphasised the word in hope the daft femme would get it.

She did not, as it would appear. "Yes we are."

Starscream frowned down at her, exasperation and something that was almost amusement flickering through him at her stubbornness. Knowing it was a pointless argument, one that would only lead to the equivalent of a school yard match of "I know you are but what am I?" Starscream let the argument fall flat.

As the seeker turned his helm back to his trine, he didn't notice the flash of disappointment over the green eyed girl's face; she had actually been enjoying their little playful interaction. At least, she thought as she settled next to him, crouching in the sand, he wasn't flying away or yelling at her.

It was almost peaceful, the first time the base had any form of silence or peace since Danny's leaving and Sunstreaker's subsequent orders to bring her home. Leaning against the orange wall of the _Ark_, Mia sighed, hoping that things would calm down until her sister was either brought home or came home of her own accord.

She doodled in the sand with her fingers as she thought of her moronic sister. Mia had little faith that Sunstreaker would be able to find Danny and bring her home. The thief knew Vegas just as well as any local, knew every road, every back alley. Danny had spent most of her young adulthood avoiding the Los Vegas police department, and it gave her a certain insight into the city; Sunstreaker wouldn't likely get within a hundred yards of her.

A flash of red caught Mia's eyes, and tipping her head to see who else had come out, she frowning with a deep sigh as her shoulders drooped.

Blue optics locked on to the seeker commander as Cliffjumper glared at Starscream from his position at the mouth of the space ship, while the commander continued watched his trine mates. Most of the Autobots seemed to either ignore the seekers or accept their presence as the new norm amongst the _Ark_, leaving them to get on with things. But not Cliffjumper, no, he was by far the most stubborn and most cruel Autobot Mia had ever met.

For whatever reason, the minibot had a deep seeded hatred towards the seekers, one that went far deeper than any other Autobot, more so then even the grumpy Brawn. Cliffjumper didn't just dislike the seekers, he _despised _them, loathed them. The minibot purposely went out of his way to pick fights with the seekers, his small, nasty voice reminding them how they weren't really welcome here. Then, when they finally snapped, he acted as though the seekers were at fault, that he knew all along that they were unhinged.

In short, Mia was not particularly fond of Cliffjumper. She wouldn't go as far as to hate the minibot, as Callie, Danny and even Aleyah would, as the green eyed girl just didn't see the reason in wasting so much energy on hate. She would leave her sisters and cousin to do the hating; she was always the naturally happy one anyway.

Yet, as Cliffjumper stormed over to the seeker, Mia felt her belly roll in dread and unease; despite being so much smaller than most on the _Ark_, Cliffjumper was still much larger than her. Shifting, worry eating away at her, Mia slowly stood, taking a step towards the tri colour seeker.

"Starscream..."

Hearing the almost fear in the human's tone, sensing her sudden unease, the flyer tipped his helm towards her, following her gaze to the little red mech that stormed angrily up to him. Plating pulling in hard, Starscream stood a little taller, wings flaring wide to make him seem larger and as he ground his denta, he tasted metal shavings in his mouth.

"Mia." Starscream's tone was tense, underlined with the equally deep seeded hate he had for the little, horned minibot.

"Yeah?" Her voice was small, hesitant as she took another step towards the much larger seeker.

"Go find Prime or Ironhide." Starscream ordered; his crimson optics bright as they narrowed on the ball of angry Autobot that stormed up to him.

The Decepticon commander knew that searching for Prowl or Jazz would be useless. With the report that Jazz had delivered, the fear it brought with it, Jazz was likely still curled around his mate, exhausted and sated after his time away.

Other than the sub commanders, the only others that could even minutely control the little red minibot where the Prime or Ironhide; all others would be mocked, attacked and ostracized by the tight pack of minibots.

Starscream, simply refused to deal with Cliffjumper's immaturity today, he was too tired and too weary. Sending Mia to fetch one of the minibots superiors would not only put her out of harm's way, and when he started to care about that, Starscream was unsure but he blamed Thundercracker solely for that, but it would also ensure that someone _else_ would deal with the usually loud mouthed minibot.

Green eyes blinked, worried, at Cliffjumper while her small head nodded as she swallowed hard. "Are you going to be okay?"

Suddenly picking up on Starscream's own unease, Thundercracker and Skywarp had stopped what they were doing, turning their attention to their commander, optics bright and sharp, dangerous as they watched.

Sideswipe's heavy engine rumbled dangerously in his chest; given the choice the frontliner would side with his new friend. From below Thundercracker, Callie glared at the moving Autobot while Sideswipe eased Lucy and Annabelle behind him.

Nodding, Starscream crossed his arms over his cockpit, his gaze steady on the Autobot. "I'll be fine. Go Mia." There was no denying the order from the seeker.

Sensing the brewing fight, Mia gave a small nod before fleeing to the _Ark_, giving the much larger than her Cliffjumper a wide berth before she darted into the ship, hurrying to find someone larger and calmer to deal with what was coming.

Cliffjumper didn't even blink an optic as Mia fled, ignoring the human as she ran for help, Starscream the sole focus of his anger.

Settling back on the heels of his thrusters, Starscream crossed his arms tighter over his cock pit, letting his optics grow cold as he focused on the Autobot. "What can I do for you Cliffjumper?"

The minibot snarled at Starscream's cold politeness, his baring denta blunt and polished in his snarling mouth. "I don't know what you're up to Starscream, but I'm on to you! I know there's something going on here."

Heaving a dramatic sigh, Starscream rolled crimson optics while he shook his helm. "Go away Cliffjumper, before something awful happens to you."

Ignoring the pointed look the seeker commander gave him, Cliffjumper snarled at the larger mech. "You mean before something awful happens to you!"

Starscream cocked a metal brow, looking unimpressed by the heated words. "You're an idiot." He sighed, exasperated.

Turning to leave, Starscream fully intended to let the conversation drop, no harm no foul, when Cliffjumper's hot angry words bit out. "If I'm the idiot, why does your trine hate you?" The angry words carrying over to his watching trine mates, his cruel taunt a calling to them like blood is to sharks in the water.

Starscream spun to face the minibot, anger and hurt warring for his spark, heat rising up from his chest and into his dark face. His arms dropped to his side, null rays humming with raw energy as his servos balled into angry fists.

Over the trine bond _something_ jerked, something deep and angry and over protective; it flexed outwards from Thundercracker and Skywarp, the bonded pair feeling his sudden spark deep hurt at the Autobot's thoughtless words.

Fully intending on saying, 'watch your tone minibot', Starscream never had the chance when he heard the tell-tale _VOP_ of Skywarp teleporting, appearing in a purple flash of light in front of his trine leader.

Acting purely on instinct, Starscream wrapped his arms around his younger trine mate's waist and hauled him back as the purple seeker hissed, claws flaring out at Cliffjumper, not quite hitting their intended target.

"Skywarp calm down!" Starscream hissed, his heavy jet engine rumbling as he poured more power into his arms, thanking Primus that his trine mate hadn't simply shot the red menace in the face.

The purple seeker ignored his trine leader's commanding words, instinct driving Skywarp to protect Starscream from all threats. They had failed him once; they would not do so again. Struggling against the older seeker's tight grip, a string of curses, both human and Cybertronian, left the teleporter's mouth like an easy flow of a river. Promises of death and pain accompanied those harsh words, all directed to the red Autobot.

Cliffjumper laughed, enraging Skywarp all the more, increasing his struggling against his commanders hold to throttle the Autobot; Starscream noted with morbid amusement that even the brave Cliffjumper had taken a step back from the much larger seeker.

"What's wrong _Sky_, don't like the truth?" Cliffjumper mocked, knowing Starscream wouldn't let Skywarp go otherwise the teleporter would end up in the brig once again.

"Watch your mouth Autobot!" The youngest seeker hissed, still trying to break Starscream's death grip.

The minibot laughed darkly, cockily, nearly begging for a seeker fist into his face. From the corner of his ruby optics, Starscream saw Thundercracker stalking closer, wings hiked high and armor puffed out large; his optics icy cold, edging on the point of madness in his anger.

Starscream could feel the change in the pair almost instantly; the change in personality, the warriors within emerging, the ice in their sparks, the need to spread carnage as they tumbled past the killing threshold. The need, the drive to protect their trine mate was thrown into overdrive, especially since in the aftermath of the battle in Los Angeles, the need to prove their worth to their trine leader forcing them to act out in more violent ways.

_Wonderful._ Starscream snarled, not bothering to order Thundercracker to stop, to return to his watching charge, knowing the order would be ignored in his wing mate's current state. Instead, Starscream opened a comm. to Sideswipe. ::Get over here and help me!::

The seeker's tone was angry, edging on panic in his attempt to keep his trine mates under control; he really didn't need this right now, not when their time with the Autobot's was still so short.

An amused tone from the frontliner answered back. ::I could, but watching Sky beat Cliffjumper into the ground would be far more fun.::

::_Sideswipe!_::

The crimson mech winced at the high pitched screechy voice that assaulted his comm. lines, the voice so full of anger, worry at being kicked out of their new home. ::Okay, okay! Keep your wings on, I'm coming.::

The frontliner huffed, tilted his helm down and told the little girls to go to Callie and stay with her, his blue optics tracking them as they ran for the golden haired woman. Shaking his helm, the crimson mech sighed, jogging to catch up to Thundercracker and his angry march.

Slipping in front of the blue hued warrior just as he neared his struggling trine mates, Sideswipe pressed his black servos against the seeker's barrelled chest, an easy grin sliding into place. "Hey TC, easy my mech. No need to rip Cliffjumper a new one. If I'm not allowed to, then neither are you, it's like, part of the Autobot code or something."

The former gladiator actually flinched at the icy chips that had become Thundercracker's optics as they flicked back and forth between Sideswipe and Cliffjumper. "The little slagger has insulted my trine leader and has been harassing my bond mate for weeks. Cliffjumper deserves no mercy, not anymore, not when he's been warned to leave us alone."

Starscream grunted as he struggled to keep Skywarp at bay, the purple seeker hissing and snarling in his commander's hold, desperate to sink his claws into the minibot's frame.

Easy grin still plastered across Sideswipe's face, the Autobot tried to remain as cheerful as he could, despite wanting to watch Skywarp beat Cliffjumper down. Sideswipe knew how much it hurt his new friend when others picked on Starscream, but he also knew Skywarp didn't get their odd Autobot ways of solving their problems in a diplomatic way.

The gladiator tried to help the seeker the best he could, and he would help Starscream calm his trine mates down so they wouldn't end up in the brig for the next few days. "Hey, I agree with you there but let's be honest, if anyone is going to get a swing at old Cliffy, it's going to be me. You've only had to deal with him for what? A few weeks? I've had to deal with his nonsense for eons!"

Ruby optics flicked away again, a silent snarl cutting across Thundercracker's handsome face, but he remained silent, allowing Sideswipe to continue. "So come on TC, let's go calm down before things get out of hand, yeah? Besides, poor Callie has gone through enough with her cousin taking off. Do you really want to cause her anymore undue stress?"

A snarl vibrated from Thundercracker's chest, his servos clenching and unclenching into fists, optics flaring white in his rage, but again, the blue seeker remained silent.

"Of course you don't want to upset her. So come on, let's go calm down a bit." Sideswipe said cheerfully, easing the much larger Cybertronion away from the minibot, surprised with himself that he had managed to talk Thundercracker down from the edge.

Starscream sighed, as he felt the bond lines change once again, returning to a cautious calm as even Skywarp began to calm down. The purple seeker's frame began to relax in his commander's hold as Starscream turned them both away from Cliffjumper, leading them back out to the dessert grounds, back towards Callie and the young girls.

Snarling, Thundercracker also allowed himself to be turned around, stalking back the way he came, angry and twitchy as he stormed back to his anxious charge. Starscream was only beginning to thank his lucky stars that the little encounter had passed over so smoothly, that nothing bad had happened, when Cliffjumper opened his mouth again.

"Oh that's rich Sideswipe! You and your pathetic twin are practically one step away from being Decepticons!" The crimson twin froze in place, glancing over one shoulder with darkening optics, "No wonder you get along so well with the damned seekers."

A nasty grin spread further across Cliffjumper's face and Starscream cursed his blasted luck. "Although, I can't blame you for abandoning your twin."

"I didn't abandon him!" Sideswipe hissed.

Cliffjumper ignored him. "I'd rather hang out with the pathetic little seeker too…"

"Skywarp isn't pathetic."

"…than your crazy twin."

"He's not crazy!" The snarl that came from Sideswipe was undeniable, and it sent Skywarp and Thundercracker barrelling back towards the killing threshold. Against all odds, Sideswipe was Skywarp's friend, and the younger seeker was not going to let the little minibot upset him in anyway.

Grinning, Cliffjumper got a little closer, his voice a rough, mock whisper. "I bet he slaughters your little human friend like the monster that he is."

An eerie calm settled over the crimson twin as he glared with disdain at the red minibot. Sideswipe's blue optics sharpening, darkening to a midnight blue with his blood lust as thoughts of dismantling the little cretin floated through his helm. Although Sunstreaker was too far to comm. and the crimson twin had closed the twin bond, there was always that small part of the golden hued warrior that was always with the older twin; that undeniable, untameable rage.

It was always there, just beneath the surface and although Sideswipe hid it better than his twin, it was there none the less. It was that fury, that temper that had gotten the twins in so much trouble in the past. It was that wrath that would say _screw the diplomatic approach._

It was that anger that, once brought forth, was an unstoppable force, an unmovable object and it was that rage which fuelled what happened next.

Sensing the brewing fight, Starscream manoeuvred himself and Skywarp between Thundercracker and Cliffjumper. The seeker commander knew he had a chance, as slight as it was, to stop his trine mates from stripping the minibot's armor from his frame, there was no chance he'd be able to stop his trine mates _and_ the remaining, rage fuelled twin.

At least with only facing Sideswipe, Cliffjumper had a better chance of surviving what was about to come.

"Call my twin a monster, one. More. Time!" Sideswipe's tone was cold and angry, daring the smaller Autobot to do it.

Starscream prayed to the stars above that Cliffjumper would leave it be, let it go. Anyone with half a processor could see that Sideswipe was angry at himself for hurting his twin, for letting him drive his new little friend away, for not helping them get along. That hurt would turn to rage that needed to be directed in a beat of a spark.

"Your brother…" Cliffjumper's voice was high and mocking. "Is a pit stained monster that deserves to be in chains until he's needed. He should be locked away in a dark cell like the bastardized dog he is."

Skywarp snarled, his frame tense in his commander's arms, too angry to recall that he could teleport from Starscream's hold and rip Cliffjumper's spark from his chest. Starscream felt his jaw drop at the minibot's audacity and part of the seeker wondered if the small red Autobot had a death wish.

Thundercracker's heavy engine revved and Starscream could _feel_ the cobalt seeker's cold glare pinned on the smaller mech. His gaze sent a chill up even his commander's spinal struts, and Starscream had to fight from allowing himself to fall past the killing threshold too, and help the others tear Cliffjumper apart.

A bitter smile that was almost a snarl, all sharp teeth and cold spread across Sideswipe's mouth just as Optimus Prime came charging from the far end of the _Ark_. The large mech skidded to a halt; his blue optics pinned on the two red Autobots before he went charging towards them, arms and legs pumping to get to them before Sideswipe threw the punch that was coming.

Behind him, Ironhide and Prowl came running, Jazz tailing behind his mate at a much more stiff and angry pace; no doubt unhappy that his mate was bolting towards his adoptive charge before he did something stupid. Finally, behind the nearly snarling Autobot third in command, came Mia, her small fleshy body being pushed to the limits in her attempt to keep up with the running Autobot command staff.

Never in his entire life had Starscream been so relieved to see the Prime as he had in that exact moment. Once Sideswiped was soothed, he would be able to calm his trine mates without incident.

Glancing up and seeing the charging Prime coming towards them, Sideswipe's bitter smile didn't lose its edge, if anything it grew wider. Shrugging, as though he were speaking to someone else, the crimson Autobot muttered. "Oh fuck it."

With movement far too fast to track, the black fist was pulled back, Sideswipe's taut frame in the perfect striking position, fist high by his audio horn, frame leaning back in preparation to attack. Grim smile still in place, Sideswipe threw his fist as fast and as hard as he could, the black servo barrelling towards Cliffjumper's grinning, mocking face.

The minibot didn't have the chance to even duck as the fist slammed into his smirking face plates, cracking the steel that lay beneath the protective silicon on impact, a sickening crunch echoing loud. Starscream sighed when his young trine mate laughed as Cliffjumper fell to the ground.

Thundercracker snarled again as his mate laughed, servos balling and unballing, itching to slam his own fist into the cruel little Autobot's face plates as well. The only thing that kept him on the spot was the silent order from his trine leader, the feeling of worry, even fear from Starscream, kept his own wrath at bay.

Yet even he grinned inwardly as Cliffjumper crashed to the ground, cursing and spiting at the larger mech who put him there.

Engine rumbling unhappily, high and angry, energy and anger that needed an outlet crackled over crimson plating as Sideswipe stalked towards Cliffjumper; like a wild cat stalking its prey, ready to kill, maim what he considered a threat.

Starscream tensed further, his grip on Skywarp tightening as Skywarp's own rage at being the target of Cliffjumper's actions for their duration with the Autobots came to the forefront of the seeker's processor; his rage feeding into and taking from the Autobot frontliner's wrath.

Having no doubt in his processor that if given half the chance, Sideswipe would have dismantled Cliffjumper, Starscream was beyond grateful that the Prime had caught him in time before the frontliner could further damage the downed mech. Barrelling up beside the frontliner, Optimus' thick, dull red arm caught Sideswipe around the waist.

Using his momentum, the Prime hauled the former gladiator away from Cliffjumper, going as far as to put his large, bulky frame between the two snarling Autobots. As the others caught up, Sideswipe's plating bristled once before smoothing out over his protoform, calming despite the deep, ragged vents that tore from his chest.

Ironhide caught up next, hauling the minibot to his pedes. Cliffjumper held onto the spot that Sideswipe had hit, brightly coloured energon seeping between his digits as he nursed the wound. Sighing, the old warrior held the minibot in place as he attempted to have another go at his comrade before he was hauled back another few steps just to be on the safe side.

Prowl caught up then, stalking past Cliffjumper to stand between the two spitting Autobots, his icy blue optics sliding from the minibot to the frontliner and then finally Jazz, a silent, swelling ball of dark anger, black rage, stood behind his bonded.

Mia ran past them all, ran to the one mech she trusted the most, pressing her small squashy body against Starscream's armored thrusters, taking comfort in his size and strength. "I'm sorry Starscream. I couldn't find Optimus or Ironhide and I didn't know what to do, so I went to Prowl and Jazz's room. But I think Jazz is really mad that I disturbed them, 'cause Prowl bolted when I told him what was happening, but I didn't know what to do!"

"Mia hush." Starscream said quietly, his voice uncharacteristically smooth and soft in his attempt to quell the girl's frightened rambling. Tensions were running high and hot, anything could set the former gladiator or the minibot off again, and what they really needed was calmness.

The green eyed girl fell silent, still fidgeting against his heel. Crimson optics flickered to where Callie stood watching with Lucy and Anna, shifting from one foot to the other as she tried to decide if she was better use up close or would just be a hindrance.

Again, the need to protect Mia and Callie, the latter due to Thundercracker's own want to protect his little charge, rose up in a confusing swell from Starscream's spark. He didn't know why he cared about the little red headed femme, but he did and he didn't want to see harm come to her; despite the mixed emotions she brought forth.

He had worked so hard to keep her alive during the battle of L.A, he couldn't allow that hard work be for nothing. Starscream mused as to why he worried about the girl so. Pushing those thoughts aside, Starscream's crimson optics bore down into the girl at his pede. "Mia, go to your cousin and stay with her."

Fear shot through the green orbs that gazed up at him, wide and open like a book, easily read. "Starscream, I don't want to."

"Go Mia." He said firmly as he lifted his optics back up to carefully watch the two red Autobots.

"But…" The human hesitated, her tiny fingers digging into a transformation seam closest to her small hands. "But I'm scared." She managed to whisper only loud enough for him to hear, Skywarp too far gone into his madness to bother listening.

Starscream frowned down at her, his helm tilting as he regarded her. Licking his lips, he took a vent, trying to remain calm for her as well as his trine mates. "I know you are." he told her. "But you need to be brave and go over to Callie. You'll be far safer with her."

"But…"

"You'll be safer away from here and the brawling Autobots. Now get going!" Starscream ordered, voice firm, leaving no room for argument.

Mia stayed where she was, her large fear filled eyes pinned on his large frame, the only Cybertronian that had ever thought she was worthy of saving. Her fear kept her frozen where she was, afraid she wouldn't make it to Callie.

Venting, knowing there were more pressing issues that needed his attention, only half listening to Prowl as he tore into both Sideswipe and Cliffjumper, something about behaviour unbefitting Autobots and how they had to tread carefully now that the human population knew of their existence. Skywarp shifted in his hold again, wings twitching madly, clawed digits digging at blue forearms; the purple seeker hanging onto every word the Autobot SIC said, grinning.

Despite the calm that had come over the two combatants, Starscream knew as well as everyone else that given half the chance, either Cliffjumper or Sideswipe would start brawling in a human heartbeat, endangering the fleshy femme by his pede.

Dropping his optics again, holding Mia's large green eyes, Starscream continued to use the soothing, yet rough voice that seemed to be calming her. "You are going to run." The seeker ordered, using every ounce of authority he had within his frame.

The trembling lower lip firmed up as she nodded up at him despite the fear that shone in the green eyes that were pinned on him, taking in everything he said. "You're going to run as fast and as hard as you can to your cousin, and stay there until Sideswipe and Cliffjumper are separated, understand?"

Another nod came from the human, her small body tense and ready, every small muscle pulled taut as she prepared to do as he ordered and run for Callie. "You're going to do it on the count of three, okay?"

Waiting for the bob of her small head, her loose hair flying around her as she waiting for the order, Starscream started. "One."

If at all possible, her body became more ridged as her breathing slowed down to an eerily calm pace; as afraid as she truly was, Mia trusted _him_ to keep her safe once again.

"Two."

A frightening prospect, if Starscream allowed himself to dwell on such thoughts, but he really didn't have the time for that.

"Three."

As though his voice was a shot from a gun, a signal that the race had begun, Mia shot off like a rocket towards her cousin. Her small arms pumping in time with her legs; trust in her hero's words giving her the confidence to do it, but fear of being killed made her quick.

Still tuning out all others around him, the seeker watched the human run the whole way from him to her cousin, not turning his attention away until she was safely collapsing in Callie's arms, exhausted by her sudden burst of movement.

Nodding to himself, knowing Mia was now safely away from what could easily become a battle ground, Starscream tuned back into Prowl's heated words, only catching the end of what was being said as the Prime kept his frontliner at bay and Ironhide kept the minibot from attacking.

"As I have stated before, I do not care who started it." The Praxian's icy optics slid from one Autobot to the other. "I truly do not. What I do care about is the safety of this base and all who reside within it. I am sick of the infighting, and it ends today."

There was no denying Prowl's anger; the tilt to his wings, the shift in his hips as he glanced at the two Autobots. The Prime took the back seat on this one, allowing Prowl to handle the dressing down he had just handed out to his subordinates, the rest of command staff very aware of how angry Jazz was as he loomed in the back ground. "Megatron will defeat us if we continue to allow these petty differences continue to divide us, so again I say _it ends today_."

The black and white mech turned to each of the commanders restraining the still angry red mechs. "I trust that you will deal with Cliffjumper Ironhide?"

"Of course!" The old mech grumbled; disappointment and anger clear in his tone. "Me and Cliffy here are gonna have a nice long o' chat I think."

"Good." Prowl nodded, firm and unrelenting as always. "And Prime, will you deal with Sideswipe?"

Normally Prowl would deal with his wayward charges, having been the one to get past their armor, their rock solid defences so often in the past. Today however, was only Jazz's second day back on base, barely awake from his first easy recharge since returning, and the bonded pair needed their time alone.

This was something the Prime understood, and gladly accepted the responsibility of dealing with his subordinate. Sideswipe also understood that Prowl would need his alone time with Jazz, that the saboteur had been away on a hard mission and returned baring bad news. Jazz needed his alone time with Prowl just as much right now, needed to curl up tight next to his bonded and eventually sink into Prowl's calm, steady spark and decompress from what he had witnessed.

Knowing all this, Sideswipe suddenly felt shame creeping in from the edges of his processor. He didn't want to ruin what little time Prowl and Jazz had together, certainly didn't want to be the main cause of that any more than he already had.

Prowl had sacrificed so much more for him and his twin than anyone else, and it burned like an acid wash to Sideswipe's spark to think he had caused his guardian such strife with his bonded. It was for that reason alone that the crimson mech stepped back from the killing threshold and regaining control over his anger, calming himself down as quickly as he could.

Dark crimson plating settled along his protoform as he relaxed, accepting his punishment, whatever the Prime may decide that may be.

Sensing the change within his frontliner, Optimus eased his hold on the crimson mech, loosening his hold from around his thin waist, yet not trusting him enough to fully release yet. "I will deal with Sideswipe." He glanced down at the bowed helm below his chin, feeling the sudden shift in Sideswipe's EM field, felt the shame that he felt at being the cause of Prowl's disruption. "And we will discuss the appropriate punishment for infighting. I believe without Sunstreaker or Danny here to aid in expelling his excess energy, Sideswipe here has too much of it."

The disappointment was clear in the Prime's voice, as clear as it was in the stance of Prowl's tilted wings and it caused Sideswipe's shoulders to hunch in shame. He didn't want his twin to be angry at him, he didn't want Danny to be angry at Sunny, and he certainly didn't want to disappoint his Prime or his guardian.

Prowl nodded, face grim. "Good." He said firmly before his blue optics slid to Starscream.

The seeker's wide white wings arched a little higher, fear that Prowl would assign someone else to deal with his angered trine. Instead, the tactician's calm words said. "Starscream, I trust that you will speak with your trine in regards to fighting."

His words were not challenging, but that of a commander asking, ensuring, that his subordinate would deal with his own unit properly. Part of Starscream rankled at the thought of another ordering him to do anything, having been only second to Megatron for so long. Yet Prowl's words were not cruel or demeaning, like Megatron's would have been.

"Of course Prowl. But I would like to point out that in every altercation between my seekers and your Autobots, my mechs have never been the cause of the fight."

Prowl's helm canted. "I both realise and appreciate this. Although if that fact changes, they will be joining the others in the brig, like Cliffjumper and Sideswipe will both be doing tonight. Yet, I would appreciate it if you would continue to ensure they understand this fact."

Starscream nodded, while turning and shoving Skywarp behind him with his bonded. "I will."

Prowl nodded his thanks as Cliffjumper shouted from behind once again. "What!? Why am I going to the brig!? I didn't do anything!"

Like a silent wraith, Prowl turned, icy optics hardening as he regarded the minibot. "You will be going to the brig after your chat with Ironhide, and visit with Ratchet, for instigating the fracas, yet again. And I am growing weary of hearing from you time and again Cliffjumper."

Sideswipe, knowing he was going to the brig after his talk with Optimus for fighting, since he did after all hit Cliffjumper, no matter how justified it may seem to him, didn't bother arguing with his guardian. He wouldn't cause him any more stress, especially with Jazz barely containing his rage whilst floating on the outskirts of their little skirmish.

Cliffjumper snarled, and Sideswipe winced, waiting for the moment when Jazz snapped. "That's not fair! I was the one who was hit! I didn't even _do_ anything to him!"

The former gladiator's frame stiffened as anger coursed through him as hot as any fire, his mouth opened to argue, to remind the minibot of the cruel words he had carelessly flung about when Jazz, tired and stressed beyond Cliffjumper's comprehension, finally snapped.

"Enough Cliffjumper! For pit's sake, enough! All ya ever do is instigate fights amongst nearly every slagging mech on da base!" Jazz snarled, surprising everyone with the intensity of his anger, his sheer fury forcing the seekers and Sideswipe to back away from their own anger.

"Ya do it ta Sunny an' Side's all da slagging time! An' Ah am frankly sick ta death ov' it! And ya've been treatin' da seekers da same since they got here! It ends _taday_ Cliffjumper, da ya understand meh!?" The Autobot TIC snapped, his visor midnight blue with his rage.

"But…" Cliffjumper tried; his voice suddenly much smaller than it had been before.

"No buts Cliffjumper!"

"Yeah okay! Okay fine Jazz, whatever you say." Cliffjumper muttered, his voice losing its edge in the face of the saboteur's anger.

Frowning, Prowl calmly walked to his mate, placing a servo on his blocky shoulder. "Calm down."

The darkened visor flashed before turning fully to black. "Ah will not calm down! Ah've barely been back on base fer two days, and Ah've already broken up as many fights. Enough is enough Prowl! This infighting is gonna get someone killed!" he hissed.

"Jazz I know." Prowl tried to sooth his mate, without success.

"Ah'm going back ta my berth, and yer coming wit' meh." Jazz stated, in the calmest tone he could muster.

Prowl's frown turned regretful. "Jazz perhaps I should stay and…"

Whatever Prowl was going to suggest he stay and do was lost to his mate as Jazz snarled a clear "No!"

Without warning, the saboteur's servo shot up and snatched his mate's blood red chevron, curling his powerful digits around the sensitive crest. Prowl hissed as everyone else's optics shot wide at the small black and white mech's actions.

Calmly, as though nothing was amiss, Jazz nodded to Optimus, respectfully bidding his Prime a goodbye before doing the same to Ironhide and Starscream. The saboteur then turned and proceeded to calmly return to the _Ark_ from the way he came, dragging his struggling, angry mate behind him, Prowl cursing and spitting.

No one dared move, even the human femmes who watched from a safe distance, until Jazz dragged Prowl into the _Ark_, disappearing from sight.

Now calmer, Skywarp's helm tilted in confusion. "What just happened?" He whispered, afraid that if he spoke too loudly, Jazz would come storming back.

It was Sideswipe who answered the stunned seeker, just as surprised himself. "I have no idea." He turned his helm back to the purple seeker, a small grin playing on his lips. "It's not often that Jazz goes off on one though, and it's usually a sight to behold."

Skywarp chuckled, and despite the presence of the commanders, couldn't help but to point out the obvious. "He just dragged your SIC away from here like a bad sparkling who was begging for energon goodies."

Grinning, Sideswipe nodded. "I bet they're going to have the biggest fight when they get back to their quarters, and have the best make up…"

"That's enough Sideswipe!" Optimus snapped, silencing the frontliner.

The crimson mech had the decency to at least look abashed. "I'm just saying, those rumours come from somewhere."

Starscream chuckled as he watched the Prime count backwards from ten. "Sideswipe, my office. Let's go and discuss what you've done today."

The grin falling from his face, Sideswipe nodded. "Yes sir." He replied, falling in line behind his Prime after giving the purple seeker a small wave.

::I'll come visit ya on the inside.:: Sideswipe's comm. crackled to life, Skywarp's amused voice over the line. The frontliner shot his new friend a grateful smile before turning to follow his Prime.

"Let's go Cliffy. Ratchet's expecting us." Ironhide grumbled; a large servo still firmly on the small minibot's shoulder.

The small red mech shot the seekers one last glare before he followed Ironhide without complaint, still nursing the spot where Sideswipe's hard hit had landed.

Sighing with the shake of his helm, Starscream watched as the human femmes hesitantly scurried back to the safety of the ship, carrying Anna and Lucy. Callie shot Thundercracker a grateful smile, which he easily returned, yet Starscream had noted it didn't quite reach his optics like it normally did when his little charge smiled at him.

Then Mia smiled at the trine leader as she followed her cousin, one Starscream did not return, yet was surprisingly grateful to have gotten none the less.

The seekers waited until the humans were safely back inside the _Ark_ before Starscream shifted his wings. "Come, let's go speak in our quarters."

Without another word, they headed for the inside of the base that had become their home; Starscream's wing mates following him without any hesitation, uncertainty and partial anger still floating along the trine bonds from Cliffjumper's words.

()()()

Thundercracker and Skywarp sat on their berth, the narrow slab of steel with the softest pad that either of them had felt since awakening on Earth; the berth they shared directly across from the one Starscream slept on.

Despite not truly being large enough for three grown seekers, the trio were sharing quarters for the time being until Grapple received the approved plans and needed materials to build their own hanger. Being forced to share a room with a bonded pair of seekers was bad enough, never mind being from your own trine; add to that the fact Thundercracker and Skywarp were finally allowed to be affectionate outside of their closed quarters, an another mildly annoying problem had presented itself.

Thundercracker and Skywarp were, in short, horny beyond belief, and for the first time ever, were allowed to touch, pet, talk, _love,_ without the fear of death. Despite growing use to his trine mates' constant public displays of affection, it never got easier walking in on them in the middle of interfacing.

It, once again, left Starscream left feeling alone and left out; forgotten by his trine.

Collapsing onto his own soft berth, Starscream heaved a sigh as he regarded his trine mates; Skywarp looking nervous and Thundercracker looking depressed as they sat together, plating brushing.

"What were you two thinking!?" The commander hissed as he leaned forward, pressing his elbows into his knees as he did so. "I told you, both of you, to stop taking Cliffjumper's foolish bait!" The trine leader snapped, not nearly as angry as his tone would indicate. "I have told you this before!"

His crimson optics flicked from his older trine mate to the younger before going back and pinning the blue seeker. "I am disappointed in you Thundercracker! You are supposed to be the responsible one, I rely on you to be calm during these altercations, not falling victim to a minibot's nasty insults."

Thundercracker sighed, blood red optics averted as his wings and shoulders hunched. Skywarp clicked at his mate, and weakly over the trine bonds Starscream could feel the affection pushing back and forth between the bonded pair. The smaller seeker suddenly wrapped himself around his cobalt mate in an attempt to comfort.

Smothering the building jealousy, Starscream forced it away, swallowing hard. "What's crawled up your afterburners anyhow?"

The demand for an answer was clear, but softened when Starscream pulsed _trine/love/worry_ down the trine bonds, drawing Thundercracker's ruby optics back up, the frown that hadn't gone away since Danny had left the base, still ever present on the seeker's face.

Venting a sigh, Thundercracker's optics dropped again as he stared down at his armoured knees. While Thundercracker struggled with his own emotions, fighting to find the right words to explain how he felt, how useless and hopeless he suddenly felt around Callie, Skywarp huffed an annoyed sigh, bored with waiting. "He's upset that he can't make his human smile."

Confused, Starscream canted his helm while Thundercracker aimed his frown towards his mate. Skywarp offered Thundercracker a distressed frown in return. "Well it's true! Things were going well before Danny left. Callie was happy, Liz was still harassing Red Alert with those stupid little viruses of hers and playing with Hound, and Mia's trying to make nice with Scree, everything was okay then."

Skywarp glanced worriedly between Thundercracker and Starscream, finding the words to explain how his trine mate was feeling; how he believed he had failed his little charge. "And when Danny left, in part to get Callie's and Lucy's horses back, it, I don't know, opened up old wounds. They want their horses back but they know that no one will ever be able to get them back."

Skywarp's one shoulder lifted in a shrug as his servo curled around his mate's. Both sets of wings were pulled in close, downcast and Starscream could feel the first wisps of disappointment and failure filter through the trine bonds.

Starscream's spark pulsed hard in his chest, reaching out along the still shaky lines that bound them together, thrilled when both Skywarp and Thundercracker answered his call with their own soft, if weak responses.

He hated to see his trine mates so upset, Starscream decided, it galled him, angered him. It was his duty as leader to ensure that his trine was happy, healthy and functioning at full capacity. To have a member down due to depression, sadness even, was unthinkable to a trine leader.

The tri coloured seeker heaved a heavy sigh, crimson optics flicking from one to the other, not liking how dull Thundercracker's optics were, how distressed they looked. Wings pulled high, Starscream glowered at his trine mates. "These humans have made you weak Thundercracker."

The cobalt seeker drew even closer inwards, his plates pressed tight to his protoform. Skywarp made a small noise as he pressed ever closer to his mate, both silent as Starscream continued. "We are still Decepticons damn it! We take what we want, not sulk about it like some spoilt sparkling!"

Skywarp cowed at his trine leader's words, optics downcast and sad, but Thundercracker perked up, his optics flaring with hope. "Are you…are you giving me the go ahead to steal back their horses?"

The blue seeker's tone was careful. They were still on probation with the Autobots and still in too shaky a position to do anything stupid like stealing horses.

A smirk crawled across Starscream's mouth, glad that _he_ could bring such a simple thing like hope back to his tine mate, a sure sign that things between them were being to heal, if only a little. "If it will help you calm the Pit down, I'll help you do it."

Delight spread across Thundercracker's face, warmth spreading from his spark and into the trine bonds. The blue seeker forced himself to settle, despite the growing urge to giggle like a sparkling, so happy that Starscream, of all mechs, was going to help him set a wrong to his little charge, right. The trine leader looking out for, and aiding his left and right wing, as they should have been doing since before the war.

Skywarp, feeding off his bonded's excitement, looked at Starscream with the same delight. "Can we go for the horses now? Can you imagine how happy Callie and Lucy will be if we turned up with their horses now!"

Starscream held up his clawed servos. "Calm down Skywarp. We cannot go running off willy nilly…" Skywarp giggled at the commander's silly human term. "…looking for these horses. Where would we put them? What would we do with them?"

The disappointment within Skywarp and Thundercracker was palatable, but they remained silent, allowing Starscream to continue. "I will speak with Prowl and Prime, we'll put the plans for a barn and paddock with the plans for our hanger. I'll think of some reason as to _why_ we need a horse paddock, alright?"

The joy came back through the trine bonds, staggering the commander by how happy something as simple as getting Callie's and Lucy's horses back had made them. Skywarp laughed, high and happy before he nearly lunged at the seeker who sat across from them, wrapping his arms tightly around the other's neck.

"Star! This is awesome! It'll be so great! Maybe we can even get Hound to help us build trails, and a garden! It's going to be so awesome!" Skywarp babbled, overly happy, overjoyed, excited even that they were going to do something nice for someone else. Even Thundercracker's happiness spread like a warm blanket, covering the other two seekers in his unrestrained joy.

Huffing, Starscream peeled Skywarp off his frame, shoving the mostly purple seeker back to his blue hued mate with a forcible "Get off!"

Skywarp laughed as he settled on his mate's lap, his panels sliding smoothly along Thundercracker's upper thighs, his aft plates brushing along the blue seeker's interface panel. A sudden bolt of lust shot through the bonded pair, staggering and hot.

Starscream's wings drooped, the feeling of being alone again, welling from his chest. It was quickly felt by his trine mates, and the commander snapped his side of the bond shut, putting his too easily raised blocks back in place, leaving the empty sense of alone once again within the seeker.

Guilt consumed the trine leader as both worry and their own guilt clouded Skywarp's and Thundercracker's faces.

"Scree." Skywarp whined softly, wanting to touch his trine leader, but afraid he would be rebuffed.

A dark helm shook as Starscream stood up, backing away from his trine mate's servo. Thundercracker cleared his own throat, drawing the commander's attention. "Scree, why don't you…stay?"

His apprehensive crimson optics held Starscream's equally worried optics, and the commander knew what they were offering him.

It was something he had always wanted, thought he wanted with them, but did they really want him, like he did them? Or were they only offering because they felt responsible for him, not because they well and truly desired him?

Starscream knew the answer, knew they loved him as a brother, a dear friend, their beloved trine commander, but never as a lover. Never as something more.

Starscream stood suddenly; almost jumping up, his plates rattling as he did so. "No! No. You two...enjoy." He said awkwardly, backing away, retreating from his own quarters.

"Star, just wait..." Thundercracker tried, shifting Skywarp to the berth, standing and reaching out for his trine mate.

Starscream backed to the door, grasping behind him for the switch. "I can't." He mumbled, hitting it without looking, the near fear making him fumble. "If we really want this plan to...succeed, I should go take the plans to Prowl and Prime."

Thundercracker's optics dimmed at the rejection, his servo still reaching out for his commander. "Star, the report could wait."

They didn't want him, Starscream told himself. "No, you two have fun." He said, forcing his tone to be light as the door opened behind him, with a too loud swoosh. "I have other things to do."

With that, Starscream fled without running, escaping into the halls of the _Ark_, Thundercracker's voice calling for him to come back, echoing after him.

()()()

Sitting at his desk, the room quite for the first time in days, Optimus Prime set the last data pad down, and giving himself a mental pat on the back, the Prime leaned back, secretly impressed that he had finally caught up on his reports.

Relaxing in his chair, Optimus grinned to himself as he crossed his arms. For the first time in a long time there was nothing to do that required his immediate attention. It was not that they did not have any problems to deal with, far from it; firstly, on the lighter side of things, there was Sunstreaker and Danny; either the frontliner would succeed in his quest, or he would not, but for the time being Danny was not the Prime's problem.

But then there was the issue of what Jazz had uncovered, the discovery that unsettled not only the normally buoyant spy, but the rest of command too; but aside from the debrief that had already taken place, there were things that needed to be discussed, plans to be orchestrated, and neither could happen until Jazz had rested and was in the right frame of processor.

So as short lived as his free time would be, the Prime contemplated what he should do with his rare afternoon off.

Optimus considered reading; he had several data pads with fictions on them he could catch up on. Or perhaps he would go for a drive; the north highways were surprisingly smooth for old roads, an area the younger mechs enjoyed racing through.

'_Yes.'_ Optimus thought to himself. '_A drive.'_ A few hours away from the craziness of the base, alone, with only the smooth road beneath his tires.

The door to his office suddenly jumped open and several tonnes of annoyed, bristling seeker barged into his office, and all hopes of a quiet afternoon perished violently.

Starscream crossed the small space between the door and the desk in three long strides, tossing the data pad he carried carelessly on to the desk before he moodily threw himself into the guest chair of the Prime's office.

Sitting up a little taller, tenting his digits on his desk, Optimus sighed. "Hello Optimus, how are you? I'm fine thank you Starscream, why don't you have a seat!?"

The Decepticon across from him glowered at the Prime with blood red optics that blazed with the seeker's usual arrogance, as well as a small tingle of hurt that Starscream tried to hide with his anger. The seeker sneered at the Prime as he leaned back, sitting in the chair as though it were his own thrown. "I need that approved."

Picking up the data pad, Optimus scanned through the information the seeker presented him while Starscream huffed, his EM field flicking out against the Prime, filled with hurt and sadness, making Optimus regret his earlier sarcasm.

Starscream's regret filtered through his EM, pressing hard against Optimus, blanketing him, heavy and oppressive. Glancing up from his reading, the Prime regarded his new commander. Starscream sat back, arms crossed, red optics now glowering at the ground across from where he sat.

Helm canting, Optimus grimaced behind his battle mask, his earlier annoyance evaporating in exchange for worry for the seeker. "Starscream, are you alright?"

Startled, unaccustomed to having anyone bother to ask about his well being, the trine leader just stared at his new leader, unsure of what else to say. Wings swept back, Starscream's frame shook as he pulled himself together. "I'm fine." He snapped, "The request?"

Optimus frowned at the seeker before him. "If you're sure."

Starscream snorted, looking away once again. "I'm fine. I just need that request approved."

Studying the seeker for a moment longer, the Prime sighed. "Starscream, why do you wish to build a horse paddock as part of your hanger?"

Red optics blinked back at him for a moment before drawing away again. "Callie and Lucy have been rather unsettled since their cousin left and you sent your crazy frontliner to find her. Thundercracker believes that getting their horses back will cheer them up." A red shoulder plate shrugged. "If it makes my trine mate happy, what do I care?"

Optimus held the scene of the former Decepticon Air Commander for a beat longer before looking back at the proposal Starscream presented him, distracted by the distress that still lingered in the seeker's EM.

"I cannot approve of this as it is. We cannot ask the humans to aid in building something that would be used for only a select few."

Starscream snarled, his outward anger not even strong enough to beat out the hurt that Optimus felt coming from him. "Of course not!" He sneered. "I'm sure if it was one of your _precious_ Autobot's there would be no issue!"

Disappointment flickered through along with the hurt.

"However." Optimus held the seeker's hot glare. "I will approve of the funds to purchase the needed material for a proper paddock. I will also ask Prowl to work the long term care of the horses into our monthly budget, and ask him to find a reason as to why we need two horses on base."

The Prime glanced back down at the data pad. "The actual construction of the paddock and housing for the horses will be up to you Starscream. I would suggest speaking with Grapple and Hoist, I think they will be more than willing to help."

Starscream blinked at the Prime "Oh. Good! Excellent." The seeker cleared his throat. "I doubt I will be doing any such begging. This was what Thundercracker wants so he can be the one to request their help."

Snorting, more to himself, the hurt still present in his EM, Starscream stood, turning to head back to the door, and Optimus took note of how low the seeker's wings sunk. "Starscream, are you really alright?"

Pausing by the opening, red optics dimmed as they regarded the Prime, and again Starscream was surprised by the small warm feeling in his spark caused by the fact Optimus seemed to care about _him_ of all mecha. Megatron had never cared about him; only what he could get out of the seeker, as well as enjoying beating him down.

"I…" Starscream hesitated, before he mentally shook himself. "I'm fine Prime. I'll inform Thundercracker what you've decided to do."

"Alright." Optimus said slowly, fighting to find the right words for the Decepticon. "Starscream if you ever want to talk..."

Optimus trailed off awkwardly, unsure what the right words were, waiting for the seeker's high laughter to come next.

The seeker surprised him by drawing his armor tighter to his frame, wings sinking even lower. "I assure you Prime, I do not need to talk, least of all to you."

Slowly standing, placing the data pad on the desk in a slow, unthreatening move, Optimus tried to reach out to the seeker. "If you're sure, you've been though a lot Starscream."

The uncomfortable feeling spread a little further through the seeker and Starscream fought to keep from fidgeting. "I'm fine." He snapped, before fleeing the room, away from Optimus' confusing words and the growing soft feeling that shouldn't be there.

There was no reason for Optimus to be kind to him, Megatron never was and it confused the seeker as to why the Autobot leader would be so polite to him.

Sighing, Optimus watched Starscream all but run from his office, and not for the first time he wondered how to help the seeker.

()()()

Gentle finger tips ran down the side of his plating and Sunstreaker resisted the urge to snarl that some dirty human was touching his perfect plating, leaving greasy finger prints along his golden hued paint job. But as much as he hated, despised humans, he needed to capture the particular human he was after, so he remained still, quiet. With Danny so close to him, the scent that was individual to her flooded his sensor net, informing the Autobot he had found his prey.

The car thief slowly walked, unsuspecting, along the side of his streamlined frame, her gentle fingers lightly touching his cool plates. Inwardly, Sunstreaker smirked; he had removed the bright red Autobot insignia from his chest, leaving his roof a smooth gold.

She would have no idea it was him until it was too late, then he would drag the little cretin back to base and set things right with his twin.

"Hello gorgeous." Danny crooned as she came to stand by his driver door, a grin spread across her face, small white teeth flashing down at him.

On the cusp of success, the frontliner grinned inwardly. It had hardly taken any work at all, his own frame the bait that had drawn her to him; like a moth to the flame. Humans were as pathetic as the insects in that quote, and Sunstreaker had never found that saying so apt.

"I know someone who looks just like you." Danny's voice sighed from beside him, and Sunstreaker perked up, finding himself curious as to what she thought of him. "But he's an asshole. His twin's a sweat heart though." The human female leaned against his frame, looking through his driver side window, his sensors scanning her features, memorizing her _scent_, her looks as she did. "A pity he's such a douche. He's got a really cute..."

Whatever Danny thought was cute about him was lost as she trailed off suddenly, her small hand freezing on his door handle, her soft brown eyes wide in shock as she stared through his window, gaping at something.

Sunstreaker stiffened as she stared at him, wondering what could have possibly spooked her. He had gone over his frame meticulously, ensuring that anything that had the Autobot insignia had been scrubbed off and removed prior to hitting Vegas. How could she possibly know it was him?

Her small hand suddenly slipped from his door handle, her small steps backing away and she cast him one last worried look before her head ducked down, walking quickly away from him, trying to blend into the heavy hustle and bustle of Las Vegas.

Confused, Sunstreaker's heavy engine rumbled unhappily. He had been so close, and he hadn't a clue as to what had startled the femme and sent her nearly running.

With a soft snarl, the golden mech pulled into traffic, cutting someone off. The Autobot ignored the angry honking and cursing that followed him, choosing instead to keep pace with the human he hunted.

Catching only glimpses of her, Sunstreaker smirked to himself; she could try and blend into the crowd now, but as long as he had her _scent,_ he could at least track her through the city. It was only a matter of time now before he caught her.

Rolling after her slowly, a dark thrill raced through him every time her small head twisted to glare at him. Danny knew he had found her, had proven Callie wrong that he would never find her. Sunstreaker had only arrived in Vegas a few short Earth hours ago, and he already had her.

It was only a matter of time, it really was. He just needed her to stop this pointless running and they could be on their way.

Engine purring, Sunstreaker's scanners watched as she disappeared down an ally, the no exit sign letting the frontliner know that she was trapped. Despite knowing that the human population now knew of their existence, he had no desire to reveal himself to the population of Vegas.

Edging up to the ally, Sunstreaker was sure he had her trapped, had her pinned. Surprise shot through his spark as Epps' bike flew from the ally, the small rider gunning the throttle, a small blur of black and brown as she spread down the busy street, a dart as she weaved through traffic.

The surprise faded quickly, and the thrill of the hunt coincided with constant battle ready protocols; a true predator after its prey.

His engine gunned, back tires smoking as he gave chase, his V-12 engine screaming, eating up the road to catch the little glitch. A black helmeted head glanced over a leather covered shoulder and a scan told him her heart rate had picked up, sending a dark jolt of joy through the Autobot.

If she was afraid, it would make the victory of catching her all the sweeter.

In a flash her small head, covered in the too big helmet, turned back to look ahead of her before she suddenly cut across the sidewalk, sending pedestrians screaming and diving from her path as she banked the tight corner; the small bike squeezing into the tight spaces between cars, the places where only a motorcycle would dare tread.

Sunstreaker tried to follow her, tried to bank around the corner, his breaks squealing and screaming as he screeched to a halt, startled pedestrians cursing at him. He watched Danny speed down the tightly packed road, watched the tiny bike disappear around another corner, and he knew he had her on the run. Now the game had truly begun.

Dark amusement raced through Sunstreaker's lines. He'd enjoy hunting her down and it would be easier now that he had her _scent_. As Danny's body temperature elevated, sweat glands would be stimulated and from each pore, her, barely detectably by humans, acidic trace would be secreted. With the human femme's scent stored, the Autobot's finely tuned sensors could lead him directly to the flesh bag.

'_Too easy_._'_ The thought fluttered through the frontliner's processor as he whispered. "Run, run as fast as you can glitch. I'll find you soon enough."

Pulling easily back into the slow, yet smooth flow of traffic, Sunstreaker began his hunt anew.

He didn't see the all black motorcycle with its large rider snap a picture of his golden frame. Pulling a cell phone from the breast pocket of his dark jacket, the rider made a phone call, the Bluetooth device tucked safely under a helmet.

"I've found one." Came the distinctly masculine voice from under the helmet.

The black helmet bobbed up and down in a nod, the same cool, calm voice responding to whatever was being said from the other side. "Rodger that." The rider then fell in line with the traffic, following the golden plated warrior deeper into the heart of Vegas.

**To Be Continued...**


	3. Little More Give and Less Take

**Important Information**

"Blah" Speaking

::Blah:: comm. link

**_'Blah'_**bonded speech

'_Blah_' thinking

**Astrosecond**- 2.5 earth Seconds

**Klik**- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

**Orn**- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

**Joor**- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

**Metacycle**- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

**Vorn**- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

**Stellercycle**-30 earth months/2.5 years

**Breem**-slang for a moment/minute.

**Night Cycle**: star down to star up

**Day Cycle**: Star up to star down

**Authors Note**: Update time! I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but here we go. I do hope you guys enjoy.

As always, thank you to my beta DarknessRising10.

And thank you to DarknessRising10, Daenerys Starcatcher, Crimson Hope, Wanderling, Pikke Wood and Sofie for reviewing.

**Disclaimer**: I own only my OC's, nothing else.

()()()

Sunstreaker smirked to himself in both amusement and smugness as his finely tuned sensors followed the small car thief while she 'worked'. Her form of work was of course, boosting cars, but who was he to judge?

The former gladiator had followed Danny as she easily stole a yellow Camaro and Sunstreaker had watched her as she slid up to the car, popping the door with frighteningly practised ease.

The frontliner let the theft pass, he didn't particularly care that Danny had stolen the car for he had better things to worry about, like getting the glitch back home. Knowing that he had a better chance of catching her if he could corner her in a building, Sunstreaker let the thief take her little prize.

Besides, he had argued to himself, he had done far worse in his misspent youth. A simple stolen vehicle was nothing to the crimes he had committed in the past.

Pushing away the thought, Sunstreaker forced himself to focus on the job at servo; following Danny and catching her. He would follow her, at a safe distance, ensuring that Danny and her stolen car were just on the peripheral of his senses, allowing him to follow without being seen. The smugness crept through Sunstreaker's lines. He would follow Danny back to wherever she was working out of, find her little base of operations and snatch her right from it.

Automatically, as it was second nature to him, Sunstreaker reached out to his twin, to share the sense of victory that flooded his spark. The frontliner would soon have Danny, and would soon be bringing her home; showing everyone he wasn't as useless as they all thought him to be.

Sunstreaker would show his twin he could be trusted with such a delicate task, and that he wasn't the monster that half the _Ark_ assumed he was. The insecurities that constantly bombarded the golden hued frontliner suddenly crept up in his processor as he followed Danny; _he wasn't the monster they all thought him to be!_

Dismay and distress flared within Sunstreaker, sharp and hot when he reached out for his other half and was met by the ice cold blocks. Sideswipe, his own twin, the other half of his spark was still ignoring him, still blocking him out just as everyone else did.

To make it all the worse, Sideswipe was doing it because he was mad at him, hurt by Sunstreaker's own actions. Actions, that Sunstreaker only took to ensure the little glitchling that he was currently following understood _who_ Sideswipe truly belonged to.

The crimson plated twin could play with the stupid human all he wanted, but at the end of the day Sideswipe was still _Sunstreaker's_ twin, _Sunstreaker's_ other half, not some playmate to Danny. Yet, Sunstreaker thought with hurt weighing heavily in his spark, Sideswipe had chosen Danny over him.

Pain, the kind that Sunstreaker wasn't used to dealing with, wasn't able to cope with on his own, spread through his spark, causing his engine to hitch. His alt form slowed momentarily, losing Danny before he sped back up to find her in his sensors again.

Sideswipe was all Sunstreaker had as a friend. Prowl and Jazz were more like parental figures to the twins, Prowl more so than the Autobot TIC, although both where always there when the twins really needed them, like any good parent would be. Yet, Prowl wasn't the kind who would want to do something he would call 'fun' or 'exciting'.

Prowl and Jazz were the creators they never had, not the friends Sunstreaker had trouble making. Most in the _Ark_ thought of the golden frontliner as a manic, crazy with a blood lust that was far worse than any Decepticon. It was only half true, but Sunstreaker was forced to live with the mask that others forced him to wear.

No one wanted to hang out with Sunstreaker, half thought they would end up dead before the day was through. It was okay though, because Sunstreaker always had his art to concentrate on, and his twin to rankle him when he needed it.

They had just as much fun together as they fought with each other. Or at least the twins had, until Danny came along and Sideswipe started to ignore him in favour of the human femme. It hurt that his twin had chosen the human over him; had forgotten him and left him alone just like everyone else did.

It burned at his spark that Sideswipe had dropped him so easily, ate at him, and the fact that Danny was human made it all the worse.

With a feral snarl, the former gladiator forced all thoughts away that had to do with his twin, shutting his emotions away with them. They would only get in his way as he tried to capture and take Danny home.

Following the thief to the smaller roads along the outskirts of the city, he watched as she pulled into a small parking lot with a single dingy building. It was a squat, grey building with two large bay doors. Oddly, the thick doors appeared fresh and new, the steel shining in the morning light, sticking out like a sore thumb on the grungy building. Beyond the ugly building, stacks of flat cars were piled high, scrap metal reaching for the sky, as though in some eerie race to see which pile could become the tallest first.

Pulling over to the side of the road, far enough that Danny wouldn't notice him unless she was looking for him, Sunstreaker observed her as she got out of the stolen car with ease. She moved as though nothing was amiss, as though she belonged there and that the car belonged to her.

A junk yard, he suddenly realized. Danny was at a junk yard, and was more than likely working for a chop shop.

Watching as the thief walked, strutted, to the building, Sunstreaker carefully rolled forward, the smugness returning. He could see Epps' black motorcycle parked up, hidden in the shadow of the ugly building.

He had the little glitch trapped now, and she had no way to escape this time. Watching as Danny knocked on the large bay door, pounding on the new steel with her tiny fist before she was let inside by an unknown male human.

As Danny disappeared into the building, Sunstreaker transformed, his lean, strong frame standing tall over the squat building. His polished finish sparkling in the sun in ways the door never would be able to. His perpetual frown set firmly on his face, Sunstreaker forced his shoulders to loosen, allowed his mind to slip closer to a combat ready state, just in case Danny tried to run again. It wouldn't take much to catch the femme now that he had her cornered, had her trapped.

He stalked to the building, frown growing into a scowl as he closed in on the bay doors, knowing this was a complete waste of time. He had better things to do than drag the brat home. Nearing the building, Sunstreaker could hear voices, laughing human voices coming through the thin walls of the building.

Snarling to himself, Sunstreaker took a knee by the bay door before he dug thick blunt digits into the softer steel. Balling his servo into a fist, the metal curled around his digits as it gave way, screeching and screaming as it did.

A human, maybe two, screamed within the building as he tore the large bay door right off its hinges, the tracks of the door ripping off with it. The Autobot tossed the wide, thick steel over a single shoulder with the flick of a wrist, the thin steal tracks flailing behind the sheet metal like flags.

With a disgruntled snarl, Sunstreaker crouched lower to peer inside the chop shop, five humans plastered themselves against the far wall, their small eyes wide in shock as they stared up at him, skin pale in shock.

One of them whimpered, a female, while the scent of urine suddenly filled the air, causing Sunstreaker to snarl in disgust. One of the males, one of the larger ones with sandy hair, had just urinated himself, the hot liquid seeping down his leg, soaking through his jeans.

The Autobot snarled again, icy optics sliding away from the small group of humans that huddled as far from him as they possibly could, their terror stinking as strongly as the piss that wafted around them, stopping on the single human that didn't cower from him.

Danny leaned against the wooden work table, a hip cocked against it, arms crossed as she glared up at the frontliner. Her lips were pulled down into a hard frown while her brown eyes, dark and angry, were on the golden frontliner.

Sunstreaker's cold gaze held hers, not backing down, his own snarl silent on his lips.

Heaving a sigh, Danny turned from him, plucking a bottle of gold tequila from the table and she poured herself a shot. "Really Sunstreaker? Is knocking too human for you? Had to come barging in during my celebratory drink, and ruin it?" The human rolled her eyes at him whilst giving a deep, annoyed sigh before she licked her wrist.

Snorting as the human femme began to sprinkle salt on her bared wrist, Sunstreaker huffed. "I hardly have time to understand your celebrations Danny." His helm canting as he watched her pick up a bright green lime, the frontliner snorted. "I've just come to collect you. So have your little drink and let's go."

Danny huffed a dry laugh, an amused smirk spreading across her face. "I'm not going home with you Sunstreaker, I have work to do."

She then licked her wrist and shot the alcohol back in one hard gulp. In a swift movement she quickly sunk her teeth into the lime in her hand, sucking the juice from it. The whole act made Sunstreaker's plating crawl as he watched her drop the lime's husk onto the table with the others.

"I don't care what you have to do Danny, we're going home." The former gladiator snapped, not bothering to hide the disgust that was so evident in his tone.

Moving another bottle, one that read _kerosene_ further away from her bottle of tequila, Danny poured another shot, the air of confidence never once leaving the human. "No, I'm not."

Danny's tone was calm and it instantly set the frontliner on edge; the femme was never calm like this, unless she was up to something.

"D-Danny. You know this thing?" one of the shaky voices from the humans plastered against the wall called out.

Sunstreaker snarled at being called a thing, his upper lip pulled into an angry snarl. Danny beat Sunstreaker to the verbal spar before he had the chance to say anything. "_Him. _I know _him_ Brandon. He's not a thing!"

The gold warrior gave Danny a wary look as she herself looked surprised that she had defended the frontliner so vigorously. Danny gave herself a small, mental shake, turning her attention back to the shot as she sprinkled more salt onto her wrist. "Well I like his brother."

Danny's small head tipped up to Sunstreaker and a look of amusement spread across her face. "Why is it that Sides is one of the coolest dudes I've ever met, and you're an asshole?"

Giving the femme a flat look, Sunstreaker kept his tone equally as flat and unemotional as he hid the hurt under a layer of ice and anger. "What can I say? He got all the personality."

The brown eyed women gave a huff of a dry laugh again before she proceeded to repeat the tequila ritual. Slamming her empty shot glass onto the wooden table, harder than necessary, Danny turned her body so that her back was to the frontliner.

Sunstreaker could see her hands moving, doing something while the other pairs of human eyes remained pinned on him, and he had no idea as to what she could be up to. "Listen Sunny, just leave me be. I'm going to come home once I've done all my contracts and I'll be fine, despite what Callie thinks. Go home and spend time with Sides, he misses you, and tell the others you couldn't find me."

Brown eyes peered over her leather covered shoulder, watching his face. "You won't get hurt that way."

His grip on the roof suddenly increased, causing the beams to squeal as they strained, his anger growing, bubbling. "First of all glitch, don't call me Sunny. Second, I was ordered to bring you home and I never fail the Prime." There was a burst of pride at that truth. "And lastly, what could you possibly do to me?"

Danny's cold eyes held his icy optics for a beat longer before she sighed, turning her attention back to the bottle of tequila. When she spoke, she did not address Sunstreaker. "Brandon, can you grab the fire extinguisher?"

The dark haired male, with the light grey eyes and shaky voice, who couldn't take his eyes from the golden Autobot, responded to Danny's odd request. "The…the fire extinguisher?

Danny nodded as she pulled her hair into a high pony tail. "Yeah, that one." Her small head nodded to the tall red fire extinguisher at the corner of the building.

Moving on wobbly legs, Brandon stayed plastered against the wall as he shuffled to the corner of the building, never taking his eyes from Sunstreaker. The frontliner glowered at the back of Danny's small head, wondering what she was up to.

Brandon picked up the large red fire extinguisher before slipping to Danny's side, eyes still glued to the giant being. "What do you want with the extinguisher?"

"I want you to put out the fire." She simply replied, her small hands continuing to work at what Sunstreaker could not see.

Canting his helm in confusion at her odd words, the Autobot felt his battle protocols rise to a battle ready state, purely out of habit. He forced it down, forced himself away from the killing edge with a deep vent. After all, Danny was just a human, what could she _possibly_ do to him armed with only a half bottle of tequila?

The male that Danny called 'Brandon' blinked at her, dumbfounded and stupid, in Sunstreaker's humble opinion. "W…what fire?"

Sunstreaker watched as Danny's small head tipped up to stare back at the dark haired male. "Where's the money for the Camaro?"

Brandon blinked at her again. "Over there on the table." His pale face tipping to the black satchel that sat on the end of the wooden table. The car thief followed the boy's directional nod, her brown eyes falling on her payment for the stolen goods.

"Perfect." Came her brisk response. "I should be back in a few days with the Corvette."

Brandon glanced back at her, before going back to an equally confused Sunstreaker. "S…sure thing Danny. Few days." The male paused, grey eyes dropping to the side. "So, what fire do you need me to put out?"

Heaving a sigh, Danny's shoulders twitched beneath her leather jacket moments before a soft click echoed in an alarming way, driving Sunstreaker a step closer to the killing edge. The human femme suddenly spun around to face him, and Sunstreaker wasn't prepared for what he saw.

The thief's face was cold and impassive as she held the Molotov cocktail that she had made from the tequila bottle and kerosene, orange fire crawling up the grey shop rag she had stuffed in the top. Sunstreaker felt himself go cold with shock, thinking there was no way the little glitch would throw that. There was just no way she would have the ball bearings to do it.

Would she?

Optics icing over, Sunstreaker glared at the human. "Danny, don't you fu-"

The dirty human curse was cut off, died in his throat, as the thief threw the bottle of burning liquid at him, aiming low, away from his face. The bottle sailed through the air, the fire trailing behind the bottle like a comet's tail, aimed for his shoulder.

Sunstreaker's optics followed the bottle, raising his arm to cover his face, protecting what was most vulnerable. The bottle smashed on his forearm, throwing kerosene and fire across his golden plating, causing his paint to bubble and pain to sear across his arm.

Jerking back, a pain filled cry ripped from Sunstreaker's throat as the fire spread up to his elbow and down to his wrist; his once perfect paint job blackened and bubbled as the fire spread. He didn't dare to try and bat the fire out, fear that he'd only spread it onto his servos kept Sunstreaker frozen.

So concentrated on the spreading fire, keeping his panic from rising, Sunstreaker barely heard Danny's voice shout out. "That fire Brandon! Put it out as soon as I'm clear!"

From the corner of his optics he saw Danny run for the satchel, tossing it over her shoulder as she bolted for the exit. Slipping between Sunstreaker's large legs and the torn bay door, Danny darted for Epps' stolen bike.

He hardly heard the bike start, nor did he see her leave as he concentrated on the spreading fire on his arm. Cold foam spread across his arm just as suddenly as the fire caught, coating his destroyed finish from elbow to wrist.

The whole situation happened in a matter of seconds; one moment Danny was there the next she was gone. The foam from the extinguisher spattered across his cheek and nose as he turned just in time to watch Danny pull Epps' bike back onto the road, a black and brown blur as she fled from him.

Rage suddenly replaced the shock; black, blinding rage with the growing need to smear the human that had the audacity to _throw fire at him_ growing with it. Shucking off the heavy, sticky foam from his arm, an animalistic snarl bubbled from his chest, Sunstreaker pinned the human with the fire extinguisher with a cold glare.

The human called Brandon swallowed hard, his breathing hitching as Sunstreaker could literally pin point the very moment panic took over. Foam continued to drip from the fire extinguisher as his grey eyes widened and his mouth fell open again.

Glancing down at his ruined arm, the pain dulling to an ache and what was left of the paint flaking off in a black crust, Sunstreaker snarled again, his anger clear in the noise that rumbled from his throat. "Where is she heading?"

The humans all pressed themselves harder against the wall they plastered themselves against, Brandon's shaky hold on the fire extinguisher causing him to nearly drop it.

"Where!" Sunstreaker roared. The want, the sheer need to kill something overtaking all thought.

"Freemont Street. Danny's heading for Freemont Street. She's working for a group of Interns looking for another Corvette." The only female in the group suddenly shouted, jumping away from the wall in her haste to sell Danny out.

The boys in the garage all gave her a look, shocked at what she had done. Her bare shoulders shrugged, a frown pulling hard on her pink lips. "What? I'm not getting shot by a robot for that bitch." Her head tipped towards him, brown hair falling into her face. "Let Danny deal with her own problems."

Engine rumbling low and angry, EM lashing out aggressively, beyond angry at what Danny had done, beyond hurt that his own twin would choose to hang out with a human like her, Sunstreaker gave the humans one last warning. "If any of you talk about this, _any of this!_ I'll burn your garage to the ground."

Not what a good, noble Autobot would say or do, but Sunstreaker was too angry to comprehend his threat. "Do you understand me?"

The small heads bobbed in a nod, knowing that the Autobot wasn't lying, knew that he truly would burn their building to the ground, just to prove he could.

With nothing but another snarl, Sunstreaker stood and turned away from the doorless bay, storming back to the road he had come from, foam and smoke still trailing from his arm. Too angry and focused on finding and destroying Danny in any way he could, Sunstreaker didn't bother to clean his arm off any more than he already had as he dropped back into his alt form.

Squealing black tires, and thick plumes of smoke pooling from under his alt forms undercarriage, Sunstreaker took off, leaving the dirty parking lot behind. With his sole focus on finding Danny so he could go home, he didn't notice the black motorbike parked down the street, its rider nowhere to be seen.

()()()

Down turned white wings twitched along white hips as Silverbolt marched down the orange halls of the _Ark_, trying to exude the air of confidence that a good commander should have. Yet on the inside, Silverbolt's tanks knotted and his spark burned with nerves in his chest.

Behind him Fireflight hummed an off key tune, nearly skipping as he walked beside Skydive. From behind Fireflight and Skydive, Slingshot and Air Raid brought up the rear, bickering as they always did.

Huffing loudly, Slingshot crossed his arms tightly over his wide chest, the bond open and humming with the same nervousness that Silverbolt felt. "This is stupid!" Slingshot huffed angrily, his square helm shooting up to look at the ceiling bullishly. "We don't need any help, we're fine."

Silverbolt glanced over his shoulder, his ever patient frown tipped to his younger gestalt mate. "We do need help." The Aerialbots commander said placidly, knowing with all his spark that this is what they had to do, if they ever wanted to improve.

Glancing down at his fidgeting digits, Fireflight's soft voice spoke up from behind. "Even Skyfire thinks this is a bad idea. Asking...them."

Shoulders squaring, gathering his courage in the same way he would when he was forced to fly at great heights, Silverbolt cleared his throat. "I know Flight. But Skyfire is a bit, ah, bias to the situation."

That was the most delicate way Silverbolt could put the awkward dance between Starscream and Skyfire as they both did their very best to ignore each other, and pretend the other simply didn't exist.

Fireflight's wings drooped a little further on his back, not liking to think ill of one of the few fliers stranded on Earth, especially Skyfire who had always made the overly young Aerialbots feel welcome when few others had. Yet, Silverbolt had argued with his team, their need was greater than any personal issue Skyfire may have.

Coming to Optimus Prime's office, his team at his back, Silverbolt took a deep intake of air and knocked on his leader's door. The few moments it took for Optimus to open the door and beckon, felt abnormally long to Silverbolt while forcing himself to not fidget as he waited.

Crossing to his commander's desk, Silverbolt stood before the Prime, back straight and shoulders squared as his team clustered behind him. Optimus' kind blue optics looked up at the young commander, his digits interlacing on his desk. "What can I do for you Silverbolt?"

The kindly spoken words put the flier at ease, reminding him that this was Optimus Prime, one of the best, if not the best leader the Autobots had ever had. The Prime would not mock or scoff at Silverbolt's fearful request.

Clearing his throat, and after a false start, Silverbolt outlined what he wanted, and his hope that the Prime would help him achieve their goal.

"We, we need help Optimus." The Aerial commander started, a bit hesitantly. "Too often my team has gotten out of bad situation with nothing but luck and it's only a matter of time that one of us gets killed."

Blue optics flickered in distress as the thought of one of the Aerialbots dying, raced through Optimus' processor. Just as quickly the Prime hid his distress, the fact that it could so easily become a reality was gone in an instant. "I think you don't give your team enough credit Silverbolt," from behind him the other four members of his gestalt perked up with pride. "You all have more skill and know how than even you realise."

Slingshot leaned a little closer to his commander, the smugness in his tone oozing in every word. "Told ya!"

Silverbolt brushed his team mate off, ignoring him. "We're inexperienced Optimus." Came the Aerialbot's firm reply. "And we need help, training that only other fliers can give us."

Fireflight shifted uncomfortably, as did Skydive, while Silverbolt continued. "I…I want Starscream to take over the role of Aerial commander here on Earth, and to have him train us."

Optimus blinked at the quickly spoken words that suddenly burst from the young Aerial. Helm canting, Optimus considered Silverbolt's request, could understand why he had come to him with this request, and Optimus allowed Silverbolt to continue.

Keeping his blue optics firm on his leader's face, Silverbolt managed to keep his voice from shaking, but only just. "Starscream has a vast amount of experience, something that none of us have. He's survived eons of air combat, has led seekers into battle and is a master strategist."

Glancing down, Optimus considered Silverbolt's words. The Prime knew that training with Starscream, and likely his trine, would be tough as Optimus was sure that the Decepticon wouldn't take the same kind of slack that the others would. Yet, having Starscream take of the Aerialbots training would in fact help Starscream integrate amongst the Autobots a little more, as well as giving him something else to do other than sit through boring Commanders meetings.

It would also give the younglings the training they so desperately needed whilst at the same time putting more than only two mechs willingly under Starscream's command.

Clearing his throat, Optimus looked up at Silverbolt, holding his gaze firmly. "You realise Silverbolt, that if Starscream does agree to this, his training and expectations will be much higher and harsher than any Autobot?"

Slingshot scowled from behind his gestalt leader, but said nothing. "Yes sir, we do."

Optimus considered the request again, wondering how long it had taken the Aerialbots to gather the courage to ask, before giving his answer. "Very well Silverbolt. I shall ask Starscream if he would be willing to take over as Aerial commander and train you. If he agrees to this, I suggest that you learn what you can from him Silverbolt, despite his prickly nature, Starscream is a fountain of information."

"You will continue to be the Aerialbot commander, but you will have to take orders from Starscream as a unit within his fliers." Despite there really being only two flier groups. "However Silverbolt, if anything Starscream does seems too harsh, cruel even, I expect you to come straight to me. Understand?"

Relief spread through the young commander and the tenseness that Silverbolt had been holding seemed to flow from his frame, his shoulders loosening as he relaxed. "Yes sir. Of course."

"If Thundercracker and Skywarp take part in your training, I expect all five of you to listen to what they have to say. Is that understood?"

Five helms nodded, some with far more exuberance than others and Optimus nodded in return. "Very well Silverbolt, I shall speak to Starscream and see if he would be willing to take on this responsibility."

With a shy smile spreading over white face plates, Silverbolt gave the Prime a lopsided grin. "Thank you Optimus."

With a final nod, the Concorde turned and ushered his gestalt from the Prime's office. The door had not even shut when Fireflight suddenly laughed, high and happy, his voice loud and excited. "We're going to be trained by seekers!"

The door slid shut before Optimus could hear anyone else's response, causing the Prime to sigh and shake his helm. The Aerialbots requesting Starscream's help was a bonus for him, all he had to do was figure out a way to convince the prickly Decepticon that working with a lot of untrained younglings was a good idea.

()()()

Under the peaceful starry sky, a warm desert wind teasing at tense white wings while Starscream growled low in his throat, his crimson optics narrowed on a cluster of rocks digging in the sand. Around the untouched boulders, blackened earth and craters littered the ground while the boulders stood tall, mocking him in their untouched beauty.

Liz's high, happy laugh echoed through the night, the bright neon glow from her laptop shining brightly in the distance, giving Starscream her exact location; it would be stupidly easy for him to kill her. To point his blaster in her direction, take aim and burn her away to nothing.

Shaking the dark thought form his helm, Starscream knew he wouldn't do it, couldn't bear to do it. It would crush Mia, betray Optimus and kill Hound. But most of all it would jeopardize the safety of his trine and everything they were trying to do here.

Tamping down on his rage, Starscream knew that he was only projecting his own anger, annoyance, at the small fleshling and her happy Autobot friend. Hound was no doubt with her, laughing at whatever had made the little fleshing laugh. Their happiness set Starscream's denta on edge, made him grit them until metal shavings flaked in his mouth. It wasn't fair that they could be so happy, and he so miserable.

Venting deeply, calming himself as much as he could, Starscream forced his emotions away, concentrating as he raised his arm, his null ray replaced with a blaster, and took aim at the rocks he had painstakingly gathered.

Taking aim, Starscream shot at the boulders, his rage bubbling up at the last minute, redding out his vision. The laser blast went wide, the earth beside the boulders exploding in a mass of dust and rock, the boulders that he aimed for standing untouched again, mocking him in their wholeness.

Liz's laughter in the distance felt like salt on the wounds as Starscream stared dumbfounded at the untouched boulders. How could he have missed such a large target at such a close range? The numbed shock wore off nearly instantly, the bubbling rage replacing it.

He bit back the snarl and contained the ragged scream that begged to be released with a hard swallow. In his spark he understood why he couldn't concentrate, why his focus was elsewhere, and it just made him all the angrier.

The meeting between Thundercracker, Hoist and Grapple had gone well, very well in fact. The two Autobots had been more than happy to help the seeker, and before Starscream could utter the words _Vosairian flier_, the plan had snowballed to include Hound, Trailbreaker, Prowl, Jazz, Sideswipe, Ratchet, Ironhide, Liz, Mia, Epps, Lennox and Aleyah.

It had been Prowl who had, just as the Prime had said he would, come up with the appropriate budget they needed, as well as the excuse to Mearing; the black and white Autobot had insisted that mucking out stalls would be the perfect punishment detail for wayward soldiers and rowdy Autobots.

Hoist and Grapple had put together a plan for the barn and paddocks and how they would hook up a water system that would fill the reservoirs automatically. The barn and paddocks would be finished prior to the seekers hanger, but even Starscream didn't make a fuss about it since Thundercracker had worked so hard to pull the plan together.

Hound had been included to help make riding trails and pick out the right kinds of plants and grass the horses would need to survive living in the dessert, Trailbreaker helping his little green friend. Researching plants, Starscream suspected, was what Liz was helping Hound with in the warm dessert night.

Thundercracker had wanted so badly for the whole plan to be a surprise to Callie and Lucy, that he had somehow convinced Ironhide to keep Lucy entertained during the barns constructed. It was no small miracle that Ratchet had been convinced to teach Callie about Cybertronion anatomy, telling her that if she was going to be living with them for the time being, she might as well learn to be useful to them. It would keep Callie busy and not missing Thundercracker while he helped the others construct the barn.

Sideswipe, after serving his time in the brig, had agreed to help, in part because he was bored with his twin away chasing his little human around Vegas, and in part to help Skywarp, his pranking ally. As well as the humans they were doing it for, Callie and Lucy, they were hoping to bring back a measure of happiness, a small amount of normality.

The whole thing had gone ridiculously well and yet again everything had fallen in place for Thundercracker, like it always seemed to. The blue seeker always seemed to have the world bend to his will, when he focused on something, when he wanted something bad enough he would see that he got it.

Thundercracker had wanted to bond with Skywarp and they had done it, even though their lives would be on the line for just showing emotions. He had wanted to join the Autobots, and here they were. Thundercracker wanted Callie to have her dumb animals back, and a plan had already been plotted out to achieve that goal.

Thundercracker always got what he wanted and by proxy, so did Skywarp. Yet Starscream, who had only wanted to belong to his trine, felt he would never even get that.

A bolt of lust that didn't belong to Starscream shot through the seeker, the root cause of the seeker's anger, of his hurt. A victory frag, is what Sideswipe had called it, had told Skywarp to have some fun with his mate, alone time for the pair of them.

Starscream snarled, aiming for the rocks again, using the heat of his blaster to distract him from his anger, wishing it didn't hurt so much when his trine mates left him to pursue their own feelings. Laser fire, bright light that burst from the end of his weapon, erupted as his rage drove him to act. It helped him focus on his blocks, enforce them, keeping Thundercracker and Skywarp out while they touched and played, openly loved each other like only a bonded pair could.

Drained and tired, Starscream panted as he glared at the rocks, still untouched by his angry frenzy of violence, all the earth around it blackened and pock marked from his attack.

A broken screech, high and angry, ripped from Starscream chest as his blinding rage shook him to the core. Nothing ever went right for him, _nothing! _Not even a simple round of target practice had gone as it should. Frame trembling from the sudden rush of anger and hatred towards the stupid rocks, Starscream screeched again, raising his arm with the intention to fire again. He would see the rocks reduced to pebbles before the night was up.

So entranced in his anger, so focused on his motionless target, Starscream didn't hear the heavy footsteps of a large frame behind him, didn't sense the calm EM field flaring softly against his own ragged one. Blinding rage was a dangerous place to be, it would cause warriors to lose sight of their surroundings.

The heavy, yet gentle servo to his wide glossy red shoulder startled Starscream, reminding him of one of the first lessons he had learnt when he joined the Decepticons; _never let your guard down._

Fear shot through Starscream, the fear of Megatron, the fear that a mech larger than him was touching him. Acting purely on instinct, the seeker snarled as he whirled around to face his attacker, denta bared in a hiss, blaster raised to shoot at close range.

Confused blue optics blinked down at the seeker, cobalt servos rising in surrender as he focused on the barrel of the seeker's weapon. "My apologies Starscream, I did not mean to startle you."

Wings drooped with his shoulders as he relaxed when blue and not crimson optics stared back down at him. He tore the weapon from Optimus Prime's face, his wildly pulsing spark calming as he reeled his EM back in as he directed his anger at the Prime.

"What are you doing here!" he snarled, not bothering to take in the fact that this was Optimus Prime's base, his house.

Servos lowering to his sides, palms up to show Starscream they were empty and non-threatening. "I just wanted to speak with you Starscream." He paused as he took in the seeker's appearance, his panting anger as he glared. Helm canting, voice full of concern, the Autobot was helpless to ask. "Starscream are you alright?"

A wary look crossed the seeker's face, the anger that was ever present momentarily forgotten in favour of confusion. "I'm fine." The Decepticon said slowly, eyeing up the Prime suspiciously, his frame fidgeting as he looked ready to run.

Glancing at the untouched rocks, Optimus' blue optics slid back to the crimson ones that shone out from under a dark helm. Slowly, uncertain if aid was either wanted or would be appreciated, Optimus' deep voice rumbled. "Starscream, are you in need of assistance?"

Snarling, indignation flaring through Starscream's EM, his wings sweeping high as his armour clamped tight to his frame, crimson optics narrowed. "I don't need your help Prime!"

Again, blue optics drifted to the outcrop of rocks, untouched and whole. Slipping back to hold the Decepticon's optics, Optimus calmly said. "Your target would suggest otherwise."

Shocked, Starscream stared up at the Prime, unsure of what he could say to that, not used to the Prime's sarcasm. Annoyed, the seeker snarled and shoved the Prime further away from him as his optics became angry slits, his EM flaring in his annoyance. "I don't need you Prime! I have managed to survive this long without being coddled by you! I don't need your blasted help!"

Servos rose again in surrender as Optimus allowed Starscream his rant, letting him blow off his anger. "I apologise Starscream, I was only trying to tease you. I didn't mean to offend."

An angry growl was his only response from the seeker, blood red optics shining with suppressed hurt. "What makes you think you've offended me?" Came the angry hiss.

Resisting the urge to sigh, Optimus forced himself to relax, forced his EM to project calmness over the irate seeker. "Starscream, may I help you?"

Huffing an annoyed sigh, the seeker crossed his arms over the cockpit of his chest, protecting the yellow glass that guarded his spark. "How could you possibly help me Prime?"

Taking a slow step forward Optimus kept his EM calm and soothing, pressing against, but not invading, Starscream's field. "Turn around Starscream, and focus on your target."

The seeker's face contorted into an almost there snarl, the tip of an exposed canine denta peeking out from a plump lower lip. After a moment of hesitation, with one last dirty look thrown at the Prime, Starscream did as he was asked and turned to glower at the outcrop of rocks.

"Now what?" the seeker snarled; the opposite to Optimus's gentle sarcasm.

Optimus took another step forward, his chest nearly pressing against Starscream's back and the seeker could feel the heat from the other's frame, from the large engine that lay between the Prime's chest and spark. White wings suddenly shuddered on the seeker's back at the close proximity of the Prime, relishing in the Prime's calm field.

The seeker fought the urge to lean into the Prime's warm frame, tried not to imagine what those large servos would feel like gently caressing his trembling wings, soothing them while the Prime explored their wide expansions.

Crimson optics flared in shock and surprise, and Starscream wondered where in the Pit had that thought had come from. The seeker shook his helm and quickly dismissed the thought, blamed it on lack of intimate attachment for so long combined with the sudden need of his trine mates to 'face each other over every flat surface.

Starscream could feel Optimus hesitate behind him, the large frame going still as he paused in thought. "Is this alright Starscream?"

The seeker could hear concern in the other's voice as the Prime hesitated, obviously wondering if the close proximity really was welcome. "It's fine." Starscream choked out, clearing his throat, forcing his usual sarcastic sneer. "What now Yoda?"

Optimus paused behind the seeker once again, amusement filling the air between them. "I'm surprised you know that reference."

Shrugging at the Prime's soft words, Starscream growled. "Skywarp watches Star Wars. I've managed to pick up a few things." The seeker spat, not nearly as annoyed as he sounded.

A smile crossed the Prime's hidden mouth while he pressed a large servo to the back of the seeker's back. "Take a deep vent Starscream and offline your optics."

Snarling, the seeker shot a sour look over his shoulder to the Prime before he turned back to stare at the rocks. Off lining his optics, the seeker took a deep vent before he huffed its release.

From behind the seeker, Optimus' voice rumbled. "Take another vent Starscream, and let it go slowly."

Internally rolling his optics, Starscream did as he was asked and taking a vent, he slowly released it through his nose.

"Let your frame relax. Feel it in your toe plates and your digits. Relax up from your servos and pedes to your wrists and ankles. Feel it move down your wings to your back and through your chest."

Starscream did as the Prime asked, he slowly relaxed and released the hard ball of unease and tension he had unknowingly carried with him. He felt his frame go lax under the Autobot's gentle words and soothing EM field, with the warm servo pressed into his back.

Gently, Optimus' other servo moved to grasp Starscream's wrist, the commanders large servo dwarfing the seekers. The Autobot eased the seeker's arm up, raising the blaster that was currently hooked into his arm. "Keep venting Starscream, slow and deep."

The words were soft and soothing to the Decepticon's audios; a distorted voice that lulled him further into relaxation, a source of comfort to the seeker during his overly emotional moment.

"Now online your optics and focus on your target." Optimus said gently, his servos still in place, one at a wrist and one at Starscream's back.

Crimson optics blinked online, instantly focusing as optics narrowing on the rocks that served as his target. The Autobot's servo finally drew away from his wrist, and a small part of Starscream mourned the loss of contact as Optimus's calm voice said "Fire."

Starscream didn't hesitate, his sole focus on the rocks as he took aim and fired. The boulders exploded in a shower of dirt and pebbles, spraying in all directions as they were destroyed. A dark mouth dropped open as a fierce joy shot through Starscream at the successful destruction of the target.

Starscream wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all; he was a seasoned warrior and should have been able to hit those rocks with no help at all. Yet, as it always seemed to, his emotion got in his way, made something that should have been easy far more difficult than it needed to be. It had been Optimus' calming presence and steady EM that had helped him achieve his simple goal.

Containing his laughter, Starscream forced himself to straighten with a satisfied smirk. Optimus stood back, the pride that flushed through the other's EM was embarrassing to the seeker for the simple deed done.

"Well done Starscream. Well done." Optimus gently praised as he removed his servo from the seeker's lower back as he gently patted the bright red shoulder plate.

Huffing, forcing himself to sound more annoyed, Starscream turned from the mild destruction to glower at the Prime. "What do you want?" The seeker snapped, disregarding what the Autobot had just done for him.

Taken aback, Optimus forced himself not to react to the sudden change in the Decepticon's demeanour, the seeker's sudden blocking and posturing. He simply rolled with it, years with the twins preparing for most attitudes and bad ideas.

Shoulders shifting back, holding the seeker's crimson optics, despite the seemingly bubbling anger that always seemed to be surrounding Starscream, Optimus explained why he had come looking for him. "I had an interesting conversation with Silverbolt."

Confusion crossed the seeker's dark face, dark brows drawing down in confusion. "The leader of your baby jets?"

Optimus nodded, continuing. "He feels they are lacking proper training. That, given time, their luck will run out and that a member of his gestalt will die."

Starscream blinked at his new leader, his gaze open, his optics a mixture of confusion and comprehension. Crossing his arms back over his cockpit, Starscream leaned back a little as he regarded the Prime. "Well." The seeker started. "He'd be right. There may be hope for that youngling yet if he understands how pathetic they are."

"That's not quite what I said." Optimus started, but was quickly cut off with a huff of an over exaggerated sigh and an optic roll.

"You didn't have to, but it's the truth." Starscream snapped. "Those baby jets of yours are undertrained, can barley fly at times,"

"That's not true at all!" Optimus interrupted, causing Starscream to laugh.

"Prime!" He scoffed. "I once saw Fireflight fly into a wall chasing a butterfly in the middle of a battle field."

"He's just...young."

"He and the others are undisciplined. They do not understand their true nature and what they can truly accomplish, and they never will, not without help. The only thing those little jets have going for them, the only thing that has kept them alive, is their ability to combine. Without that, they would have died long ago."

Optimus shifted, unnerved by what the seeker had just said, knowing in his spark that the Aerialbots lives hung in the balance of the outcome of this conversation. Behind his battle mask, the Prime licked his lips, picking out the proper words he needed to convince the seeker. "They are untrained. A lot of that has to do with my failings to find them a proper teacher."

The truth stung, but Optimus was not one to shuck off duty and responsibility. The Aerials had come to him for help, and the semi-truck would do all he could for his Autobots. "Yet I am trying to rectify the mistakes I have made that have affected their lives."

Confusion crossed over the seeker's face, but Starscream stayed blessedly silent and allowed Optimus to continue. "The Aerialbots need a proper air commander to guide them through battle and train them for it. What Silverbolt lacks in experience he makes up for in spirit, but not even that equates to the eons of knowledge you have Starscream."

Acknowledgement started to flood the seeker's crimson optics, an understanding at what the Prime was hinting at. The strong arms that were folded over the seekers chest slowly uncurled as Starscream's jaw began to drop.

"Starscream, Silverbolt has requested you become the Aerial commander. He wants you to teach them what you know and prepare them for battle."

Starscream blinked at the Prime. "Your baby jets want me to teach them how to fight properly?" The dumbfounded shock was clear in the seeker's tone as uncertainty flittered through the fliers EM.

Nodding, the Prime's soft blue optics held the Decepticon's, his calm EM pushing out towards the other. "They do. Silverbolt knows that they are inexperienced and need the training. He is willing to sacrifice his leadership as Aerial commander, although he will remain the Aerialbot commander, in order to obtain the training he and his gestalt so desperately need."

Old feelings of needing power, the need to fight for power, rose from Starscream's tanks, and the old instinct to fight Megatron at every turn to attain his desire, spread through his frame like a wild fire. It made Starscream feel hot under his plating, like an invisible beast was scratching at his spark.

Swallowing hard, Starscream gave himself a mental shake, drawing himself from that dark desire, wishing desperately that his trine mates were not being intimate with each other so that he could open the bonds wide and greedily take the comfort they always provided. Instead, Starscream fed from the Prime's calm EM, the feeling that the other trusted him far more than any other, filtering through to the seeker. It calmed him down, made him feel important, not so left out; a feeling his trine had accidently roused within him so often.

"I..." Starscream tried to start, giving his helm a soft shake. "Do your baby jets even realize what they are in store for?"

A deep, friendly chuckle rumbled from the Prime, right from his chest, his engine revving high in his amusement. It was the kind of laugh that Starscream only recalled from memory, the kind of laugh that came right from the spark. "I'm afraid not Starscream. But I believe that training with a proper air commander and a proper unit would do them some good. Teach them humility, at the very least."

Hesitating, Starscream knew that if this had been Megatron, there would have been some kind of price to pay for that position of power. Before, with Megatron, he would have jumped at the chance to lead a gestalt as powerful as the one Prime presented to him, and he would have attempted to pose a coup to overthrow Megatron once and for all.

Yet, this was not Megatron and there would be no too high price for the level of trust the Prime was willing to place with him. Optimus Prime honestly wanted his help, needed his help to protect his Autobots; mechs who were now Starscream's allies.

Humbled by the level of trust the Prime was willing to place in him, _him_, of all mechs, Starscream hesitated. He was trying, for his trine as much as himself, to be different. To do things differently than before, to once and for all kill Megatron, the black scourge that had darkened so many lives for so long.

"I will have to think on it." Starscream said slowly, knowing that he should speak to Thundercracker. His lieutenant, of all mechs, would listen to how he felt, would try to understand where he was coming from; would be the only voice of reason in their chaotic, if not unnerving new world. "Make sure that my trine is okay with this as well."

Nodding Optimus took a step back, his EM moving out of reach of Starscream's and the seeker minutely lamented the loss of contact, confusing the seeker. The tri-colored mech chalked this unexpected wanting up to the backlash of feelings from his trine mates.

"Of course Starscream." Optimus' gentle voice rumbled; an ever constant in Starscream's new life. "Perhaps we can also discuss in further detail, the barn and the progress on your hanger as well, once you have spoken to your trine."

Nodding, Starscream suddenly found his voice, fighting to get its usual sneer back into place. "That'd be fine Prime. I'm sure Skywarp and Thundercracker won't mind the baby sitting duty."

Dismayed, wondering if he was doing the right thing by allowing Silverbolt's request, Optimus canted his helm. "Starscream, it's not baby-"

Again the seeker waved the Prime off as he brushed past him, heading back to the _Ark_. Starscream fought with himself to not stay by the Prime's side, and his warm frame, while he waited for his trine mates to finish.

He didn't dare drop the blocks, not quite yet as the trine leader knew they were hardly started yet. Forcing himself to keep walking, Starscream left the comfort of the Prime's EM and calm presence and went to the empty nothing of the _Ark_.

Optimus sighed, shoulders drooping as he watched the retreating back of the seeker, not sure what the stirring in his chest meant or why his spark reached out for the seeker. Optimus couldn't be sure why he was so bitterly disappointed that Starscream didn't stay.

()()()

Mirage watched, invisible and silent as his mate laughed with the small human. Liz was perched on his thick green knee, her lap top perched dangerously on her own knobby knees as she pointed out yet another dessert flower that they could plant along the trails.

Hound's happy laugh, much deeper but just as joyful, rang out with the human's, and Mirage felt a bolt of loss pierce his spark. When he had begun courting the green tracker, the spy understood that, unlike himself, Hound had a lot of friends, that he made friends very easily and trusted far too many.

Mirage was not used to sharing, had not had to during his time as a high born noble, and had no one to really share with during his early years as an Autobot either.

Sharing Hound with Trailbreaker was bad enough, but expected. The pair had been friends for eons and Mirage was not going to ask his lover to drop his best friend for him. Venting a deep sigh, the noble let his helm drop to his knees, glowering at the little human that seemed to have stolen his mate's attention.

Now it seemed that Mirage would be forced to share Hound with yet another creature, dividing the tracker's already limited time further. Scowling, Mirage was beginning to believe that these humans and their stupid horses were a waste of time and space. Without them at least, he would still be spending time with Hound.

The tracker would now be curled with him, settling down after a long day. He would certainly not be laughing and excited over a stupid little flower with a stupid little human.

Mirage tried to fight the jealousy that swelled, and failed miserably in his attempt. Heaving a sigh, the spy's spark spiralled down into loneliness.

**To Be Continued. **


	4. Catch Me If You Can

**Important Information**

"Blah" Speaking

::Blah:: comm. link

**_'Blah'_**bonded speech

'_Blah_' thinking

**Astrosecond**- 2.5 earth Seconds

**Klik**- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

**Orn**- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

**Joor**- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

**Metacycle**- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

**Vorn**- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

**Stellercycle**-30 earth months/2.5 years

**Breem**-slang for a moment/minute.

**Night Cycle**: star down to star up

**Day Cycle**: Star up to star down

**Authors Note**: Hey guys! Sorry for the late update, I have taken part in this years Gift Fic exchange, which has eaten up a lot of my time. That story will be posted shortly, once the group has revealed who wrote which story.

As for this chapter, I have some mixed feelings on it. I can never tell if my chapters are any good or not, but this one is not one of my favourites. I really struggled with this one and I think it shows. So if its crap, I'm sorry. Chapter 5 is almost done, and I am liking it a lot more then this chapter.

As always, a huge thank you to my beta, DarknessRising10! THANK YOU! :D

And thank you to Sunstreaker's Girl, DarknessRising10, SunnySidesofBlue, Fan Girl 666, Wanderling, SammyWolfstar, EcontraBlue and R for reviewing.

**Disclaimer**: I own only my OC's, nothing else.

()()()

Rage fuelled Sunstreaker as he crouched atop the flat roof of the parking bay, his blunt digits digging into the concrete, the black bubbling mess that had become his paint job, scarring up his arm. Fury and hatred for Danny swelled in his spark, and not for the first time the frontliner wondered what the hell his twin had seen in the little glitch.

After losing her back at her last base it had taken the Autobot a day and a half to find her again, tracking the little bitch right to the parking garage across the road, and now he quietly watched as her small figure walked up to the fourth level, wisely staying away from stair wells and the potential for cameras.

As much as he hated her, despised the human who had taken his twin from him, Sunstreaker found himself curious about her. Clearly she knew what she was doing, but _how_ good was she really? Smirking, Sunstreaker knew that Prowl would be proud of him.

He could have easily gone to the same parking garage, cornered and trapped her but instead he was gathering Intel on her, learning his quarry's habits, her skills. _Know thy enemy_. It was a human saying, and it galled Sunstreaker to use it, but the saying was apt.

He would watch her steal this car, the bright yellow Camaro she was stealing for Brandon and his little friends, and he would learn how she did it. Then he would drag her ass home and let Prowl tear into her for thieving. That would teach the little glitch!

The frontliner watched with his dark grin spreading as Danny stalked towards her own quarry, padding softly up to it, her soft fingers brushing its yellow finish. He watched with a grin, as she opened the door with ease, and he wondered where the keys she used to open the door had come from.

Shrugging off the thought, Sunstreaker knew it was time to confront the human. She now had a car and Sideswipe had done nothing but brag about how good a driver she was, so now it was time to test her true mettle. Grinning as he dropped down into his sleek alt mode, the frontliner tore down the garage ramps, the grey walls a blank blur as he raced for the street.

It would take Danny time to get the car started and ease the sports car onto the road but the Autobot had to make sure he got to there before her. He wanted her to see him, he wanted to see the little glitch panic when she saw him. He was curious to see if she would bolt or try to fight again.

He honestly hoped she froze, just so he could watch her panic. He would get a dark thrill out of that; then he would smash that pathetic little car she stole as revenge for what she had done to his paint job. Black rage flushed his systems, making his engine red line and had he been in his root mode he would have felt the heat creep up from his chest to his neck and into his face.

Sunstreaker would make sure she paid for what she had done to his pristine frame, one way or another, and he would enjoy making her suffer for it.

A dark glow spread through Sunstreaker as he crawled slowly through traffic, coming to a rolling stop at the exit of the parking garage, in easy sight when Danny came from the bay. The few short moments seemed to crawl by, slowly, agonizing. The anticipation, the near excitement that he would soon have her in his crosshairs, rocketing Sunstreaker's battle protocols online.

He would not make the same mistake twice and let the little glitch put him in a vulnerable place, he would not let her attack him again. Not like she had done with the Molotov cocktail, he would not allow his battle protocols, his killer instinct to go quite again so long as she was on the run.

The short Earth minutes dragged on, feeling like hours instead of the few short moments it took the car thief to drive the stolen Camaro down the ramp and to the exit. One moment there was nothing, then, almost as if a spell had been cast, the yellow Camaro appeared with a red headed female driver.

Grinning inwardly again, engine revving aggressively, Sunstreaker watched Danny as she eased the car forward, her bright brown eyes looking left and then right to check if the traffic was clear for her. As the brown orbs swept back to check the street once more, as a safe, normal driver would do, her eyes landed on his sleek, gold frame.

Engine revving hard and loud again, Sunstreaker jerked forward in an aggressive move, daring her to run. Dark delight spread through the frontliner's frame when he saw her panic, saw her mud colour eyes widen in shock and surprise. Her small, fleshy brow drew downward in confusion and her small mouth fell open in a silent 'O' of surprise.

Another thrill raced through Sunstreaker's lines at the sight of her frozen form; Sideswipe had been so adamant that the thief was a great driver, was fun to race with and go through the time trials with. She had, the crimson twin had boasted, not panicked when they did the figure of eights on the obstacle course.

Yet here she was, freezing at the mere sight of him. Sunstreaker knew she was as pathetic as the rest of her race. There were of course a few exceptions to that rule; Epps, Lennox and General Morshower were a few select humans who Sunstreaker tolerated. Mearing was an annoying little creation, but she did her job well and tended to leave the Autobots to themselves.

These civilians though, they set Sunstreaker's denta on edge. What did they know of sacrifice, pain or valour? People like Danny toiled in thievery for the fun of it, and it was people like her who had imprisoned him and his twin in the Pits of Iacon for their own enjoyment. Yes, people like Danny made his energon boil.

The one thing that glitches like Danny all had in common was they were all cowards. Any moment now the shock would bleed away to fear, and then he would have her cornered. Her pathetic mind would go numb, she would freeze and he could easily bring her sobbing back to the _Ark_.

Astonishment fluttered through Sunstreaker like a wild bird as the surprise at seeing him bled away into not fear, but excitement. A challenging look flooded Danny's soft brown eyes, hardening them with the same glint of anticipation he would see in Sideswipe when he was about to pull a prank.

The look of what was about to come, the sheer joy that they were about to do something _they were not suppose to be doing_, and likely wouldn't be caught. Instead of running, instead of freezing, Danny revved the engine of the Camaro, edging the yellow car ever closer to his damaged frame in what was clearly a challenge.

Not one to be outdone, Sunstreaker's engine growled back, deep and loud. As far he was concerned, it was a no contest competition. His alt form was a Lamborghini and its greater horse power would eat the little Camaro for lunch any day of the week. He was clearly faster than it, and had better handling and manoeuvrability.

So why then would the little glitch think to challenge him with a slower vehicle?

Her lips curled into a little smirk, little white teeth gleaming in the sunlight as she held her gaze, not backing down. She revved the engine again, the smaller, weaker engine purring back at him, not powerful enough to hit the same deep growl.

The line of traffic began again, briefly separating Danny from Sunstreaker as normal people in their normal cars drove down their normal street.

For just a moment, such a brief moment really, Sunstreaker lost the yellow Camaro as Danny shot out from the exit of the parking garage, cutting off some poor driver as she tore into traffic. Before the golden frontliner could even make sense of what he had just seen, Danny flew down the street, weaving in and out of traffic and a thrill, hot and high, raced through Sunstreaker's lines at the thought of chasing Danny down, of having reason to race through traffic, breaking every speed limit in the city to corner the little glitch.

Engine growling low and aggressive, Sunstreaker roared after her, tyres smoking as they grasped for purchase. He shot like a bullet from a gun, a gold blur amongst the neutral colours that most humans picked for their cars.

He hardly had to push his engine before he caught up to the human femme, weaving as she did, catching up with ease. Smugly, Sunstreaker followed the thief in their high speed chase, zigging every time she would zagg; drifting right behind her as she took corner after corner hard in a desperate attempt to escape.

Instinct drove him, like a blood hound tracking a rabbit, right behind her as they raced through the outskirts of Las Vegas. He would try to pull along side of her, to drive her off the road and into the earth, but Danny would prove herself competent as she managed to stay ahead of the Lamborghini, for every time the Autobot tried to get around her, Danny would suddenly pull in front of him, slamming on her breaks for only a brief moment, forcing him to do the same unless he wanted to ruin his front end by ramming into her, before she took off again. Sometimes she would use other cars like small walls, keeping him separated from her until she could have more room to move once again, room to escape.

Although the yellow car was nowhere near as powerful as he, Danny knew how to drive it, knew how to use her surroundings to her advantage and keep him on his toes. Though he would never admit it, not to any one, ever, chasing the human through the city with a complete disregard to their own safety and everyone around them was kind of...well fun.

It made his core programming sing in contentment as his four tyres made contact with the ground, smoothly rolling over the asphalt in quick succession. His spark pounded in his chest with excitement and his engine run hard and hot as he easily kept pace with the human in her stolen vehicle.

It took the edge off his black, rolling hate and hurt, despite his anger at the human for destroying his finish. Driving was such a simple joy, it always soothed the Autobot, helped him relax and take a step away from his anger; and now he was able to chase the little glitch around a city where speed limits apparently no longer mattered.

It was bliss, a near high for Sunstreaker as he tore down the crowded street, heading deeper into the city, weaving around the slower, more pathetic drivers in his pursuit of the thief. However, just as all happiness seemed to for him, it ended abruptly.

Finally pulling behind the human in her stolen car, a mere car's length away, his engine rumbled evenly as tyres rolled over the smooth, dry road. Excitement ate at his lines as he began to slowly catch up, prolonging the inevitable, knowing he would soon have her trapped; and he enjoyed every moment.

Neither he nor Danny saw the police officer sitting quietly in one of the small side streets, the only thing the Autobot was aware of was the burn of his engine, knowing he was so close, so Sunstreaker was taken by surprise as the officer's vehicle suddenly darted out into traffic in front of him, fully intending on catching the yellow speedster the frontliner was himself chasing.

There was no time to react, one moment the Autobot was trailing behind the Camaro, the next he was spinning out, his gyros trying desperately to make sense of what they were sensing, giving him a sense of vertigo as his processor spun. Pain exploded from his front corner panel as the armour gave and dented as the rear of the police car was rammed into his front end.

He fought for control, fought to make sense of the blurring colours and the waves of nausea. When Sunstreaker finally stopped spinning out, he sat in the middle of the road for a moment, trying to make sense of what had just occurred, taking stock of the damage done.

He could hear someone yelling, screaming, at him, kicking his tyres in anger. The frontliner could feel his shaky hold on his calmness slipping, could feel the familiar rising of anger bubbling from his chest and outward.

The human who screamed, Sunstreaker assumed it was the officer, kicked his tyre again, demanding that he 'get outta the damned car', and his pain pulsed in time with his growing rage and bitter disappointment that Danny had likely escaped again.

The short lived happiness died as blinding rage took over once again. Tyres began to shake as rage took over and his golden plates shuttered against his softer protoform.

"GET OUT!" The officer yelled again, kicking at his back tyre, and Sunstreaker could feel his last nerve snap, his bubbling rage exploding and burning in a hot angry swell.

With a snarl and a high rev of his engine, Sunstreaker transformed, crouching high and dark over the human who had dared touch his frame. Ice cold blue optics pinned the stunned officer, his upper lip pulled back over flat denta in a silent snarl.

Slowly standing up, taller and higher than the officer could have ever dared imagine, Sunstreaker towered over the human like a dark sentry of death. The officer suddenly back peddled, scrambling to get away from the angry frontliner and his aura of rage.

His cowardliness disgusted Sunstreaker as the front liner watched the human fumble for his gun, his fleshy hands scrambling with the holster. Rage bolstered through the Autobot at the human's audacity, at the mere thought that his pathetic weapon could harm him.

Large black servos curled into tight fists which trembled at the thought of killing the human, smashing his puny little cruiser into dust fluttered through his processor. One arm ached from where the fire had licked at his armour, the other now dented and damaged ached just as much.

Another snarl rippled from the front liner as he glared angrily down at the little human, ready to kill at any given moment. He took a small step forward as the human scrambled back, terrified, the officer falling backwards as he scrambled to get away, crawling in his desperate attempt to escape.

"Sunny, you okay?" A soft, very feminine voice called out, almost worried and scared, which stopped Sunstreaker in his tracks.

The Autobot's helm snapped around so quickly and with such force, that he heard the cables in his neck strain as he pin pointed on _that_ voice. The hated nickname didn't even bother him as he focused in on _her_ wretched voice; the cause of all his anger, his annoyance, his hurt.

Danny had stopped the Camaro so suddenly that it was sideways across two lanes with the driver door facing him. The upper part of the thief's body was leaning out of the window, her small palms pressing into the window frame of the door. A worried look spread cross her tiny features.

"You...you okay?" she asked again, the concern slipping further into her face as her brow furrowed and her lips pulled into a small frown.

Focusing in on his target, battle protocol roaring to life as Sunstreaker descended past the killing threshold, Danny the sole focus of his rage. The anger, the hurt, the feeling of abandonment snowballed within the frontliner, creating a ball of tangled emotions and the former gladiator blamed the little human for each and every one of them.

Turning to the thief, a snarl rippling again from his chest, Sunstreaker stalked to the femme, forgetting the officer. The only word that ripped from the Autobot's chest was an angry, shaky, "_You!"_

Worry turned to shock, as Sunstreaker watched through a red haze as the human drew back, away from him, the first threads of fear finally coming from her, "Me? What did I do?"

"This is all your fault!" The frontliner snarled, his spark reaching out hopelessly for its other half, dismay echoing through him when it was not answered.

"My fault! I didn't hit you!" she cried back, nearly desperate; he could hear her tiny heart begin to pound in her chest, the cockiness gone as she saw firsthand how dangerous Sunstreaker could be.

"I'm only here because of you! And I swear you'll pay for this!" The frontliner snarled, his pain pulsing in time with his rage once more.

Brown eyes blinked up at the frontliner, flicking momentarily to his arms and their damage before drawing back up again. A tiny tongue flicked out like a reptiles to moisten cracked lips as her brown eyes focused on his angry face.

She hesitated a beat longer before she took a deep breath. "Listen I'm really sorry, I am." She paused again, "Really. But I can't go back yet."

Suddenly her small body was pulled back inside the car's frame and the Camaro sped off, black smoke trailing behind her. Danny had barely disappeared back into the stolen car before Sunstreaker was moving and with the deadly grace of a predator, the frontliner was on her, the tips of his digits grazing the back of the car as she took off.

With a violent snarl, he took one, then two running steps before he flung himself into his alt mode, his body transitioning easily from running to driving as he tore after her once again. The game had changed now and no longer was Sunstreaker's pursuit one of enjoyment and fun, a mere game of cat and mouse. Now it had taken a serious turn once again and Sunstreaker would do anything to see the human captured, to see the ugly Camaro destroyed and see her lose everything she had worked so hard to gain. Just like he had.

The playful weaving and breaking was over and in its place a game of deadly intent, and now Danny knew it. Each time he closed the space between them, the frontliner would ram into the back of the Camaro, taking out the tail lights and denting the fragile fibreglass panels. Sunstreaker couldn't bring himself to care that it dented his front end, too lost in the madness of battle to even give it a second thought.

Then, aided by a stupid move on her part, Danny escaped. She drifted around the corner of a busy intersection, first cutting off two cars to block her pursuer's path, before driving up and over the curb; the yellow Camaro cutting across the sidewalk in her desperate attempt to escape him.

Sunstreaker could only watch as the stolen vehicle disappeared around another corner, lost to the city as she ran, and hot rage burned through the frontliner as the broken tail lights disappeared. But it didn't matter how fast she ran, he knew where she was going.

Grinning inwardly, dark and cruel, Sunstreaker took off again. It was time to speak to his little friend Brandon.

()()()

When the little scrap yard came into view, Sunstreaker's fury had not died down, had not fizzled in the slightest; if anything it had increased, fuelled by his drive, sending him spiralling down into the madness of his battle protocol.

The beaten frame of the yellow Camaro stood out in the grey scrapyard, and all other feelings bled out from Sunstreaker, until all he was left with was his rage. The human would pay for his pain, he would smash her puny car to nothing and drag her home.

He would make sure she receive nothing, not a dime nor a cent for this little mission of hers; if that was the only way he'd get his revenge, then so be it.

Transforming with a snarl, Sunstreaker's damaged arms swung at his side, the dull armour no longer shinning in the sun. He stalked to the small squat building, not caring as he crushed the small wired fence that surrounded the perimeter under his pede as he stomped to the building where Danny hid.

The Autobot warrior paused, only briefly, when he heard Danny's frantic voice. "Brandon! Hurry up with the transaction, I have to go!"

"It's going as fast as it can. I can't make it go faster Danny!"

The girl hissed, causing Sunstreaker to grin. He had her scared, on the run. Just as it should have been from the get go.

"There!" Brandon hissed back at Danny. "The money has been transferred to your offshore account."

"Good." She hissed back, throwing every ounce of sass back at her fellow human that she had thrown at him.

Black metal shinning the dim light of the setting sun caught Sunstreaker's optics and the frontliner grinned darkly as his blue optics fell on Epps' stolen bike. The lieutenant would forgive him, that much the Autobot was sure. At least that's what Sunstreaker's blinding rage told him, reassured him.

Plucking the bike from the ground, Sunstreaker's cold smile slipped a little further into madness as he pressed one servo to the front tyre and the other to the back and smirking just a little more, the ice spreading a little further into his cold spark, Sunstreaker crushed the bike between his servos, turning the once gleaming bike into a crumbled ball of steel.

The maniacal grin did not lessen at Danny's concerned words when she wondered out loud what the noise was as metal screeched and squealed. Then with an easy flick of a wrist, Sunstreaker lightly tossed Danny's only source of escape.

The black ball of steel sailed easily through the air, landing with a heavy thud at the still broken bay doors, sliding a few feet, the loud, horrid noise drowning out the conversation between the humans. The silence which followed warmed the dark parts of the Autobot's spark, knowing he had spooked the humans enough to stall their pointless chatter, silencing Danny's big mouth for a little while at least.

He heard the femme curse, heard the bitter disappointment and misery that she had not only had been caught, but Epps' bike was a crushed ball of steel, useless to her endeavours.

The softly spoken words were music to Sunstreaker's audios, knowing he had managed to quell Danny's large mouth and her biting words. Although it didn't sooth the anger in his spark, the bitterness that his twin had chosen her over him, but it did bring the frontliner a measure of joy that he had managed to get one up her.

"Danny," he called out to her, his voice smooth, mocking and cold. "Let's go. You have no way out now."

The human was silent, hidden inside the building he had her trapped in, her scent and fear wafting through the area. He knew he had her trapped, she knew she was trapped. The fight was over now.

"Now Danny!" he hissed, his tone angry, his rage bubbling.

"I'm coming!" Danny snapped back, her small voice muffled by the walls that separated them, but Sunstreaker could still hear the anger there.

Grinning to himself, Sunstreaker preened silently. He had finally cased Danny to snap. True, it had been a tad more difficult than he had originally predicted, but in the end he had still won.

Crossing his arms, Sunstreaker felt himself creep back from the killing threshold, felt his battle protocols begin to go dormant now that he had her pinned. The frontliner heard the femme's soft, light footsteps, echoed by the hearts of her fellow humans pounding in their chests. He could hear Danny's thumping in her own chest while she mumbled softly, some dumb song under her breath.

"Move it Danny!" Sunstreaker snapped just before she appeared at the mouth of the broken door way, and the former gladiator heard himself gasp, his battle protocols snapping back to life.

Danny stood at the doorway, brown leather jacket snug around her body, dark satchel thrown over a single shoulder and a shot gun in her tiny hands; the butt of the weapon was pressed hard to her shoulder, aimed high at his face.

Sunstreaker's processor knew what he was staring at, and that it didn't have the power to actual do any major damage to his frame; it would be more of a distraction than anything else. But he still couldn't quite believe the women had the audacity to point the thing at him.

Although, if the Autobot took the time to ponder it, the fact that Danny was pointing a gun at him should not have surprised him. She did throw a Molotov cocktail at him after all.

Rage didn't have time to rekindle, he didn't have time to drop back past the killing threshold as Danny stepped around the corner of the building, her own anger clear on her face as she took aim and pulled the trigger.

There was a boom followed by a stinging pain under a cold blue optic; the shot gun blast peppered mostly under his right optic and along the ridge, some of the tiny pellets spreading across his cheek and the bridge of his nose. Static filled his vision as black servos shot up to his face, covering the sensitive silicone lining, more out of shock rather than pain, surprise and rage filling his lines.

His finned helm shook to clear his vision and Sunstreaker instantly spotted the small cluster of humans by the bay door, all staring up at him in shock, the shot gun laying by their feet, forgotten and useless. Danny was already across the yard, scrambling over the fence that separated the junk yard from the public.

With a snarl, Sunstreaker darted for the human, crossing the pavement in a few steps, hoping to catch Danny before she had gotten too far, but the little human had managed to get over the fence and jumping down to the other side, she darted to the sky high piles of scrap metal.

Losing sight of her as she bolted behind a pile of crushed cars, Sunstreaker snarled, yelling at the running human, demanding that she come back. When she didn't respond he stormed after her, stepping on another fence, chasing her down, not caring in the least about the damage he left behind him.

Rage continued to fuel the golden mech, his battle protocols now at full force and demanding blood and death in payment of the damage done to his frame. He would find the thief and he would...well he didn't know what he was going to do but he wanted to stomp on her, beat her into the ground like he would with Cliffjumper or Brawl. But Danny was small and delicate, and would actually die if he tried to exact his vengeance out on her in the way he wanted to, the way he craved to.

Snarling and spitting like an angry cat, Sunstreaker shoved over the nearest pile of scrap, following the scent that was specifically Danny. Winding through the tall piles of scrap metal and crushed cars, the golden Autobot followed the human's scent like a hound dog tracking a fox.

The former gladiator forced himself to take deep, calming vents, trying to step away from the killing edge. He needed to be calm when he found her, wherever she was hiding, so that he didn't accidently kill her in a blinding rage.

Shoving over another stack of scrap metal, Sunstreaker snarled, calling out for the thief, ordering her to come out, telling her that there was no place for her to hide. The Autobot followed Danny's scent to the other end of the scrap yard, his arms still aching and his cheek stinging.

Sunstreaker tracked her odour all the way to the fence on the opposite side of the property, its trail leading over the fence and across the road. For the first time since his pursuit of Danny, Sunstreaker felt insecurity bleeding through his rage, the first wisps of failure, but still he pushed on, stepping over the fence and tracking Danny's scent as far as she ran.

The Autobot traced her all the way to an empty road where her scent just sort of…disappeared. Glancing down one end of the road and then the other, Sunstreaker was met with nothing but desert. A thought, the only logically reason as to how Danny could have disappeared with no hint to which way she had gone, was that she had hitched hiked, or even hopped into the box of a truck without the driver knowing.

Either way, Danny was long gone.

Sunstreaker screamed into the hot desert air, loss and failure bubbling from his chest, drowning out the rage, shutting down the battle protocols completely. He had lost the little glitch for the third time. Sunstreaker screamed again, the failure burning worse than any acid.

()()()

Callie sighed as she sat on the edge of a med berth, small arms crossed over her chest, her chest tight as sad feelings spread through her small body. Blinking back tears from her dark blue eyes, she forced herself not to cry, determined not to allow the tears to slip.

Since Danny had stormed from the base, everything had fallen apart, going from bad to worse. It was not something that Callie could blame solely on her cousin, even though it was too easy to do so, but it just seemed that everyone had been miserable and moody since the frontliner had gone chasing Danny, and nothing seemed to be able to lift the gloomy feelings from the _Ark_.

Mirage and Hound were constantly fighting now, about what Callie wasn't sure. She just knew that they were and it seemed to be all the time. If the woman was to hazard a guess, they were fighting because of Liz. Hound and her younger cousin were working on something, what exactly Callie had no idea, but it had to do with a garden of some kind.

When Liz had become interested in horticulture was a mystery to Callie, but it lead to Hound spending a lot of time with the young hacker, and the more time he spent with Liz, the less he spent with Mirage, and it seemed to be rubbing the noble the wrong way.

On top of all that, Sideswipe was moping around, desperately missing his twin, the stench of guilt so strong that Callie could practically smell it herself. Sideswipe was blaming himself for pushing Sunstreaker away and he was now reaping the consequences of it.

He at least had Skywarp to cheer him up, when the purple seeker wasn't being harassed by Cliffjumper. The blonde felt a rush of hatred towards the red minibot; the little horned bastard didn't get the hint, and tormented the seekers until they finally snapped, leading to more than one occasion with either Thundercracker or Skywarp in the brig or worse, in solitary. Sometimes Sideswipe would, if the crimson frontliner was with the seekers, snap himself, throwing a punch at the smaller Autobot.

Just to make things a little bit worse, Thundercracker was ignoring her. For what reason Callie just couldn't fathom, she simply had no idea what she had done to drive her guardian away. Perhaps he was too busy trying to mend things with Starscream, or taking care of Skywarp to bother with her and maybe when things calmed back down, they'd spend time together again.

Sighing, Callie fought back the bitter tears as her legs kicked out, dangling over nothing as she sat. It just didn't make sense why he seemed to be avoiding her now. They used to go flying at least once a day and would have breakfast together every morning. That way at least, they had the chance to spend time together before the day began. But now he always seemed to be busy, never wanting to spend time with her, barely even taking the time to have breakfast with her.

It hurt that he ignored her, hurt that he didn't seem to care about her anymore after all they had been through. They had nearly died, and that now seemed to mean nothing as Thundercracker pawned her off on Ratchet, leaving her to 'train' with the surly medic while he disappeared to do whatever it was he was up to.

The first miserable tears slipped from the corner of her eyes, despite her rapidly blinking, trying desperately to stop them from coming. If she still at least had Danny with her maybe the hurt wouldn't have been so bad, and her cousin could probably help her figure out what was going on.

As it was, she felt terribly alone, abandoned by the Decepticon she had come to love as a brother.

Ratchet walked into the medbay, instantly spotting the human who sat with her back to him on the edge of the med berth. The medic could see the woman wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand and the old mech's spark clenched in his chest.

He would have to have a little talk with the blue seeker who called himself her guardian. Ratchet understood he was trying to keep the barn and the horses a surprise for her, but that was no excuse to make her feel forgotten. No excuse to make her cry, especially in his medbay.

Taking a deep intake of air, Ratchet went to talk to Callie, to try and give some kind of awkward comfort before Swoop and First Aid arrived for their daily training. He would attempt to offer encouragement and reassurance that Thundercracker had not forgotten about her.

The Autobot CMO stalked across his medbay, frown plastered across his face as he struggled for a kind word for the human when Ratchet stepped on a small round disk. Confused as to what he stepped on, Ratchet looked down just as there was an audible click and before the medic could do a thing, bright pink and green paint shot up at his face like a geyser, staining his face and chest with the clashing colours.

Surprised, Callie turned to face Ratchet, body tense and ready to jump onto the flat surface of the berth and run should she be attacked. Instead she felt her jaw drop as she stared in shock at the currently paint covered CMO, feeling the sudden rage wash over the medic.

Blue optics blinked, Ratchet's jaw working as he tried to calm himself, tempering his rage. Taking a deep, shuddering vent, Ratchet managed to keep his tone polite and courteous as he lightly spoke to Callie. "I'm sorry Callie, I just have to go kill Sideswipe and Skywarp."

Without another word, paint flicking everywhere as Ratchet spun around, the Autobot medic stormed from the medbay, snatching a wrench on his way out. But not even the image of Ratchet covered head to hip in paint, leaving a thick trail of the brightly coloured substance in his wake, could produce a smile from the human.

()()()

Thundercracker looked at the half built barn which was tucked at the back of the Autobot base, along with the pathways that Hound and Trailbreaker had painstakingly put into the ground with a critical optic. Grapple and Hoist were going over the designs for the barn a fourth time, planning out how to utilise the space just so.

The young Aerialbots, curious as they were, were clustered around Liz, blue optics bright with interest as she pointed things out on her laptop, talking rapidly. The girl was covered head to toe in dirt from helping Hound and Trailbreaker and was pointing out which plants they were going to be putting alongside the new pathways and riding trails.

The Aerialbots, for whatever the reason, seemed to be enthralled by the tiny girl's words and information; even Slingshot was silent and attentive as she went through different plants.

Heaving a sigh through his vents, Thundercracker crossed his arms over his heavily armoured chest, squeezing at his elbows in an attempt to garner some form of comfort. The barn was coming along smoothly, and quickly with the help of the two builders who were planning it. Everything was going well, the whole team coming together to finish it before Callie figured out what was going on.

If only Cliffjumper would stop harassing them, then maybe they could settle in a little more amongst the Autobots.

The minibot, it seemed, always had some cutting remark or scathing insult aimed for someone. He was just as nasty towards his fellow Autobots, 'bots like Sideswipe or Mirage, as he was towards his new seeker allies. Cliffjumper, it seemed, didn't care; so long as the minibot deemed you unacceptable, you were forced to endure his immaturity.

Forcing anger back down, Thundercracker tried to keep his mind on the little side project at servo and not the irritating little minibot. But the red mech's mocking words were always in his helm, like a nasty little reel that was constantly playing. Mocking words about Starscream and the things Megatron had done to him, words about Skywarp and his intelligence.

There was only so much Thundercracker could take, and his short fuse was getting a little shorter each day. Something had to change. Something had to be done about the little red fragger.

He felt Starscream's EM before he saw his commander, and he took comfort in it. Coming to stand next to his lieutenant, Starscream brushed against Thundercracker's arm, knowing, sensing his subordinate's dark feelings.

Nodding to his commander, dark optics still pinned on the barn, the dark blue seeker sighed. "Cliffjumper went at Skywarp once again."

Returning his own nod, Starscream lightly pressed against his wing mates EM, offering understanding and unwavering support. "I also heard that Cliffjumper and Brawn went at you as well." Crimson optics flicked to the blue seeker.

Heaving another sigh, a blue shoulder guard lifted in a nonchalant shrug. "It happened. Nothing to be concerned about Scree."

Starscream shifted again, frame swaying from one side to the other, wings softly flicking against the blue ones at his side. "It's not you I am concerned about TC. I'm more concerned about Skywarp losing his patience and attacking. It's all we would need for him to destroy what we have begun to build here."

The truth, cut and dry, just as Starscream always was.

"Skywarp will be fine." Thundercracker nearly snapped, his tone aggressive and annoyed, EM flaring and ragged.

Crimson optics narrowed, slanting to give the other seeker a sideways glare, "Just as he was fine the other day with Sideswipe?"

A soft growl rumbled through Thundercracker's engine. "That was an accident."

"We can't afford accidents Thundercracker. Not right now."

Another growl resonated through his engine. "We did not leave that pit just to be tormented here."

Nodding, Starscream silently agreed. "I know." He grumbled, knowing he had come out to speak to Thundercracker about something completely unrelated. "Prime wants me to take on the role of Aerial Commander and train the baby jets."

The surprise knocked any conflicting emotions right out from Thundercracker like a punch to the gut. Wings swept back in shock, crimson optics widening as his helm canted to the side. "What?" he demanded.

Taking a deep intake of air, vents hissed as they drew oxygen in, flushing Starscream's systems. "Prime wants me to train the baby jets." He repeated.

Stunned, Thundercracker just stared. "I thought that's what you said, but I had to be sure."

Starscream remained silent, allowing Thundercracker to continue. "Why?" he demanded, surprise still too great.

The trine leader sighed. "It was Silverbolt who approached Prime. He knows his team is untrained and young. He understands that their luck will run out if they do not have a proper commander in place, one who has battlefield experience."

"And they asked for you?"

Starscream frowned at his trine mate, optics flashing. "Who else could they choose? It's not like they have an abundance of experienced fliers here."

Helm shaking, Thundercracker's optics drew back to the barn. "Fair point. But….younglings." a dramatic shudder raced through Thundercracker's large frame. "Do you even remember what it was like to train younglings?"

Starscream snorted as Thundercracker's wide crimson optics turned back to him. "Because I do Starscream. They're annoying and loud and brash. They think they _know _everything, and they don't follow orders. I mean younglings Starscream. _Younglings_."

Starscream nearly laughed, relief flooding his spark at the fact that Thundercracker hadn't instantly said no. "I remember Thundercracker. I remember. I'm just not sure why you bonded with one," The blue seeker snorted at the comment, amusement flooding the trine bond, "But I remember." Starscream sighed again, becoming sombre once more. "I don't know what to do." The tri coloured seeker admitted. "And besides Prime, you're the only one I trust here."

Thundercracker moistened his suddenly dry lips with the very tip of his glossa, narrowing the bond with Skywarp as to not worry his mate. "You need to consider the pros and cons." Thundercracker stated softly, turning his full attention to his trine leader.

Counting on his digits in emphasis, Thundercracker listed off the pros. "One, it would instil trust amongst the crew to train their young fliers, and that's something that we need, desperately. Two, we would also be able to ensure the Aerialbots survival. They are no longer our enemies but fellow fliers, and young fliers who have never been trained by other fliers." Thundercracker snorted. "It's embarrassing to have a young gestalt of fliers trained by a shuttle and ground pounders. It's our civic duty to train them."

Starscream nodded in agreement. "Coding will demand it."

Thundercracker shrugged and nodded. "It will." He agreed. "But the third reason as to why you should do this is that it would make you a real commander again, an Aerial commander at that. Something that Optimus has not had since the beginning of the war." Two pairs of crimson optics met. "We have always ruled the skies and that was what gave Megatron the upper servo. Our loyalty was not misplaced in the beginning, but Megatron has forgotten how powerful our force was. He will soon remember."

A devious grin then spread across Thundercracker's handsome face, no longer a shadow of its former self. "And being a proper commander again does have its perks, mainly in that Cliffjumper won't be able to harass us any longer. You'll out rank him and likely have the ability to throw his aft in the brig."

Starscream nodded; all things he had considered already.

"The only con I can see is that we'd have to deal with younglings again." Thundercracker sighed dramatically, almost slouching. "Well, that and the extra responsibilities, but you've always been good with those." A dark look came into Thundercracker's optics. "And you'll have to face Megaton once more."

Starscream fought the flinch on hearing his previous master's name, memories of his wings being torn off and stuffed into The Hole still fresh in his mind. The seeker forced it away, his shoulders the only thing that twitched in his effort to remain still. "I can't hide on the _Ark_ forever." The trine leader muttered, subconsciously taking a step towards his trine mate. "Better to face Megatron helm on and not let him ruin this too."

Thundercracker snorted. "Better to face Megatron with the Autobot army at our backs."

Starscream nodded, feeling the openness of the bond, the oneness of trine. Almost like how it had been back on Cybertron, just as war was breaking out.

"You're going to help me train them." Starscream vented, almost making it an order.

Thundercracker snorted, watching as Mirage marched from the _Ark_ to where Hound sat in the dirt with Trailbreaker. "Of course, Commander Starscream." A smirk spreading over his lips.

Starscream shifted. "You think I should do this? Be… be Prime's Aerial commander?"

_To be the Prime's Decepticons_ were the words Callie had used, in what seemed so long ago now. To be a unit of their own while at the same time, being part of a bigger picture. But if that hope was to ever to become a reality, they needed some form of authority. Something that would help them build trust amongst the Autobots.

"It would certainly help us as well as them." Thundercracker added.

Starscream sighed as he watched Mirage stand with his arms crossed over chest, his glower moving between Hound, Trailbreaker and Liz. "I was worried you'd say that TC. It's just…" the seeker trailed off.

Thundercracker lightly bumped Starscream's wrist, hoping to push as much comfort as he could. "I know, they are Autobots. But they are still fliers."

"They are young, confused fliers who have no idea where they come from or what their roots are."

The blue jet silently agreed, still watching as Mirage glared at his lover. "Someone needs to teach them to defend themselves."

Starscream snorted. "Teach them to fly. Silverbolt is afraid of heights and Fireflight likes to chase butterflies in battle." He shifted his own attention from the annoyed Towers brat to his trine mate. "It was funny when we were enemies, but now that they are allies, it's a liability." Starscream looked down, suddenly becoming interested in his pede's. "I do not wish to see them harmed. They are far too young to be fighting this war."

Thundercracker nodded in agreement. "They are new sparks. They are younger than we were when we joined Megatron." Heaving a sigh, the blue seeker continued. "Someone needs to teach them to protect themselves, there are too few of us fliers left."

Anxiety chewed at his spark and Starscream shifted in worry once more. It had been a long time since he had been a new commander, and never within the Autobot ranks. How was he to know what was acceptable?

A dark servo reached out and gripped Starscream's bright red shoulder guard and squeezed. "I will help you. So will Skywarp and Optimus Prime. We'll all help with the younglings."

The surety and conviction in Thundercracker's voice lifted Starscream's spirits, reminded him of the confidence the trine leader usually oozed in. Starscream's equally dark servos snatched Thundercracker's wrist suddenly, squeezing tightly, accepting the reassurance his trine mate gave him.

"Thank you."

The blue seeker grinned at his trine leader, both hanging onto each other in a moment of comfort before drawing away, gruffly returning to their usual arrogant stance.

Watching Mirage suddenly huff in annoyance, sick of being ignored by his lover, the noble spun around and stormed back to the _Ark_. Liz's brown eyes followed the blue and white Autobot sadly, the only one to notice the spy when he was so desperate to be noticed by his lover.

Starscream shook his helm with another deep sigh. "You think Sunstreaker is having an easy time with Danny?"

Thundercracker snorted. "If Danny is anything like Callie, not at all."

"I almost feel sorry for the Autobot."

The blue seeker managed a snort. "Better him than us I think."

Starscream managed a dry laugh, the seeker's usual smirk coming back to life. "Come on, how bad can Danny really be? She is only a single human."

Even Thundercracker laughed at his trine leader's words.

**To Be Continued…**


End file.
